×
App Icon
The Standard e-Paper
Join Thousands of Readers
★★★★ - on Play Store
Download Now

Telcos' one till deal struggles to break M-Pesa hold on payments

Vocalize Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Vocalize

Ashish Malhotra (left), Boniface Mungania and Julius Cheptiony during the launch of merchant interoperability in Westlands, 2022. [File, Standard]

In April last year, Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya launched merchant interoperability on their mobile money networks as an industry-led initiative to ease the cost for subscribers transacting across networks.

The partnership dubbed Till ni Till allows customers on Airtel Money and T-Kash to make payments to any of Safaricom's Lipa na M-Pesa Till numbers or paybills in what was also anticipated as a step towards breaking M-Pesa's dominance.

Premium Article

Get Full Access for Ksh299/Week.

Fact-first reporting that puts you at the heart of the newsroom. Subscribe for full access.
Continue Reading  →
What you get
  • Unlimited access to all premium content
  • Ad-free browsing experience
  • Mobile-optimised reading
  • Weekly newsletters & digests
Pay via
M - PESA
VISA
Airtel Money
Secure Payments Kenya's most trusted newsroom since 1902
Motoring
How to pick the right insurance cover for your car
Business
Push for cryptocurrency regulation gathers pace
Shipping & Logistics
South Sudan justifies Crawford Capital Port collection role
Real Estate
How high-stakes home ownership dreams are shattered by city cartels