Safaricom and Mastercard announced on Thursday that they have signed a partnership to accelerate adoption of payment acceptance and cross-border remittance services in Kenya.

Under the terms of the partnership, Safaricom will embed Mastercard’s omnichannel acceptance solutions for the 636,000 merchants using Safaricom’s mobile money service M-Pesa.

Safaricom said that combining M-Pesa’s extensive merchant network and Mastercard’s global payment infrastructure will scale digital payments across Kenya by making more seamless, secure, and scalable payment solutions available to merchants. That in turn would also enable them to serve customers across global markets.

The partnership will also boost remittance services, streamlining cross-border transactions efficiently, said Safaricom’s chief financial services officer Esther Waititu.

“This collaboration with Mastercard unlocks new opportunities for M-Pesa merchants,” Waititu said in a statement. “By combining our expertise with Mastercard’s global acceptance network, we are enabling businesses to provide more efficient and frictionless payment solutions to their customers, both in Kenya and beyond.”

According to analyst firm GlobalData, Kenya’s mobile wallet payments market has grown at a rate of 12.7% CAGR between 2020 and 2024, driven by a rise in consumer spending and a high consumer preference for mobile-based payments. GlobalData is forecasting 5.7% growth in 2024 to reach KES8.4 trillion (US$60.1 billion).

The firm credits  mobile wallet growth in Kenya to several factors, from the popularity of M-Pesa to the rising popularity of QR code-based payments, which itself has been helped along by the introduction of the Kenya Quick Response Code (KE-QR Code) Standard last year.

As of July 2024, M-Pesa had over 51 million customers.

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Four bits of expansion news, two domestic and two international: … [visit site to read more]

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Four bits of infrastructure expansion news from the US and Europe: … [visit site to read more]

Kenya’s ICT Authority has reportedly launched an ambitious US$2.4 billion project to reduce digital inequality, modernise business processes, and improve the country’s digital landscape. But this isn’t the only digital transformation initiative announced in East Africa in recent weeks, as the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project may soon be rolled out.

The ICT Authority Strategy Plan 2024-2027, unveiled late last week, provides the framework for transformative projects including nationwide digital literacy programmes, the expansion of secure broadband infrastructure, and the adoption of e-government services. 

The US$2.4 billion plan also focuses on addressing connectivity access gaps and create a more equal digital future for all Kenyans. 

Dr Margaret Ndung’u, Kenya’s minister for information, communications, and the digital economy, states that her ministry is also moving on with its goal to enhance Kenya’s fibre network coverage nationally (100,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable), establish 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots, and develop 1,450 Digital Village Smart Hubs across the country. 

This news comes hard in the heels of an announcement last week that the East African Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are set to commence implementation of the Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project (EARDIP).

EAC is a regional intergovernmental organisation of eight partner states: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa.

EARDIP aims to establishing a unified and comprehensive digital network that connects even the most isolated areas, promoting equitable access to digital resources.

In addition, the project seeks to harmonise digital policies and regulations, in order to facilitate smoother cross-border trade and communication, fostering greater regional integration and economic cooperation.

A comprehensive regional cybersecurity framework, including unified cybersecurity policies, sharing threat intelligence, and providing resources for capacity-building in cybersecurity skills, is also planned.

With the rise of the cloud and the growing influence of AI driving infrastructure decisions around the world, new entrants are emerging to build the next generation of internet infrastructure.  One such new entrant is Lightstorm, which has rapidly built out DCI infrastructure in India and Southeast Asia in just the last few years.  With us today to talk about Lightstorm’s approach to networking for the hyperscale era is CEO Amajit Gupta.  Prior to co-founding Lightstorm, Amajit helped run Microsoft’s cloud networking infrastructure. … [visit site to read more]