Interoperability: New mobile money system mooted amid M-Pesa crisis

An M-Pesa outlet in Nairobi. Millions of Kenyans rely on the service to send and receive money as well as paying for essential goods and services. [File, Standard]

The Government plans to launch a common mobile money wallet next year that will make it possible for full interoperability between service providers.

The new system, which will also allow seamless transactions between users, will be owned and managed by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and could render obsolete a similar initiative launched by Safaricom, Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya earlier this year.