Vodafone Romania Launches M-Pesa Service

Vodafone announced the official launch of its m-payment service M-Pesa by its
Romanian division, Vodafone Romania. The service, first launched in Africa, will offer
mobile money transfer and payment services to the approximately 7 million Romanians
who do their business mainly in cash. The service also offers customers with bank
accounts the convenience of being able to access and transfer money via their mobile phones. M-Pesa, which is based on text-messaging technology, operates over any of Vodafone Romania’s mobile network connections, including 4G. Romanian M-Pesa customers will be able to transfer between RON 1 (US $0.31) and RON 30,000 (US
$9,300) per day.

The m-payment phenomenon took off in the developing world, where there are many
unbanked customers, but it is spreading to more developed economies. M-Pesa, the
most advanced m-payment system to date, has been implemented in Africa, South Asia
and South Africa. Romania, a relatively cash-oriented European country, is the logical
next place for it to be offered. If the service succeeds there, more widespread European
deployment can be expected.

The above item appeared in a recent issue of The Tarifica Alert, a weekly resource that analyzes noteworthy developments in the telecoms industry from around the world.