Safaricom digs in as CBK steps up plan to split telco

Customers queue outside a Safaricom shop along Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi in a rush to beat Sim Card registration. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Safaricom and financial services regulator, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) have differed over proposals to separate M-Pesa from the telecommunications service provider. 

This comes as the CBK closes the window for collecting public comments on proposals to introduce a digital currency backed by the regulator as part of the National Payments Strategy launched earlier this year.