Vodacom announced on Monday that its mobile money services has 10.9 million customers in the six months to end-September 2016.
The mobile phone operator added that the revenue for M-Pesa grew 36.8% excluding the South African operatiopns contributions after it was discontinued in June 2016. The growth was fuelled by continued success in Tanzania and boosted by strong uptake in Mozambique, DRC and Lesotho.
The company said DRC has more than doubled their number of customers, and in Mozambique 38.4% of customers are now using the mobile money service.
“We added 1.7 million customers, increasing the number of active customers to 10.9 million , an increase of 19.3% from the prior year. We have implemented a new M-Pesa platform, both in Tanzania and the DRC, with enhanced technology which has significantly improved stability, resulting in increased trust with customers, a key attribute for success,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Vodacom has pulled the plug on its M-Pesa product in South Africa after admitting that the service doesn’t stand a chance to succeed in the country.
In other markets where financial inclusion is limited and where there is a more supportive macro environment, the mobile phone giant said M-Pesa continues to gain solid traction based on exponential growth in customer acquisition. Kenya and Tanzania are prime examples of this.
