“Central Bank approved Safaricom as one of the cashless service providers on Wednesday and we expect the NTSA (National Transport
and Safety Authority) to issue a notice next week,” Business Daily
quoted a Safaricom executive who chose to remain anonymous as saying.
According to the executive, Safaricom has partnered with
some innovators, who have helped the company upgrade its system to be compliant with the receipt requirements.
Safaricom’s move to start the cashless fare payment, Lipa na M-Pesa
stalled, as regulations require mobile payments system to issue
commuters physical receipts, a service Safaricom could not offer before
partnering with third parties.According to the executive, Safaricom has partnered with
some innovators, who have helped the company upgrade its system to be compliant with the receipt requirements.
The mobile telecoms giant launched Lipa na M-Pesa, a service that
allows goods and services to be paid for online via the companies’
M-Pesa platform, in a bid to reduce the company’s reliance on its voice
business which accounts for about 60 percent of its sales.
With huge success recorded with M-Pesa, whose revenues have grown from Sh21.8 billion last year to more than Sh26 billion in March, Safaricom intends to turn the mobile money service into Kenya’s primary payment platform.
The mobile telecoms giant, which has the largest subscriber base in Kenya, is banking on this edge to get a larger share of the cashless fare market, which is expected to put an end to irregular fares and give Kenya Revenue Authority opportunity to collect taxes from the industry, which official data shows generated Sh218 billion in revenues last year. Three commercial banks – Equity Bank, KCB Group and Co-operative Bank had on September 19 gotten approval to offer the cashless service.
With huge success recorded with M-Pesa, whose revenues have grown from Sh21.8 billion last year to more than Sh26 billion in March, Safaricom intends to turn the mobile money service into Kenya’s primary payment platform.
The mobile telecoms giant, which has the largest subscriber base in Kenya, is banking on this edge to get a larger share of the cashless fare market, which is expected to put an end to irregular fares and give Kenya Revenue Authority opportunity to collect taxes from the industry, which official data shows generated Sh218 billion in revenues last year. Three commercial banks – Equity Bank, KCB Group and Co-operative Bank had on September 19 gotten approval to offer the cashless service.
Safaricom had last year registered over 1,300 matatus and taxis on
its Lipa na M-Pesa platform, although use of cash in public transport
fare payment ban will not start until December 1. It was earlier stated
for July 1.
Firms interested in offering cashless fare payment are expected to seek approval from the CBK ahead of the December 1 deadline.
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