Vodacom Tanzania Launches M-Pesa Global To Ease Cross-Border Money Transfers & Payments

Vodacom Tanzania has launched the next major phase of its mobile money ecosystem: M-Pesa Global. This advanced service enables users to perform cross-border money transfers to recipients in over 200 countries worldwide, immediately turning M-Pesa into a truly international remittance platform.

The launch introduces the M-Pesa Global Visa card, a virtual, pre-paid debit card developed in partnership with Visa. Following its 2022 debut in Kenya, the card now allows Tanzanians to make online payments for goods and services globally. Users simply ensure their M-Pesa account is funded and use the card details to complete transactions on any international merchant’s payment interface.

Users in Kenya are also taking advantage of M-pesa’s partnership with PayPal, which allows Kenyans to receive money from international sources without the hassle of waiting days for payments to clear.

Tanzanians will also benefit from the relaunch of M-pesa ‘Tap&Go’, a near-field communication system that allows users to tap their virtual card at points of sale, just as they would with a physical card or with services such as Apple Pay; the service, which was launched in Kenya under the name 1Tap, was discontinued there due to a lack of uptake from the market, as well as a court case over IP theft (the Kenyan High Court eventually ruled in Safaricom’s favour).

In Tanzania, M-pesa users can also take advantage of Vodacom’s partnership with Thunes (a global payments infrastructure company), to in turn use Thunes’ partnership with China’s Alipay to make payments to merchants in China, and with TerraPay, which will facilitate payments to Dubai. All of these are set to boost import and small-scale trade businesses that source from Asia and The Middle East.

 “Together with Vodacom, we are making it possible for Tanzanian businesses to pay Chinese merchants instantly through the Alipay network. This new level of interoperability and innovation strengthens trust in mobile financial ecosystems and opens new avenues for international trade,” Andrew Stewart, Chief Revenue Officer at Thunes, said.

Other entities Vodacom Tanzania has partnered with for this project include MTN Uganda, which will allow transactions on its MoMo Mobile Money platform; Network International, which will facilitate payments to the larger Middle East, and Magnati, a fintech that focuses on SME payments.