Safaricom’s M-PESA 1-tap and go service are now available in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nyeri following four months of trial in Nakuru.
Company CEO Bob Collymore says the service is expected to facilitate faster and easier payments between Lipa na M-PESA merchants and their customers.
Some of the merchants where customers can make their payments using the new service include Shell petrol stations, Naivas supermarkets, KFC and KenolKobil. Others include Choppies, Oil Libya, Total and Quickmart.
“Our decision to focus on petrol stations as a key launching pad is because there is where cash is used despite the dangers associated with carrying cash around. How many times have we heard about robbery incidences that cropped up due carrying cash around and using it especially at such stations?” Collymore asked during a press briefing at a Shell station along Kiambu Road.
To use the service, customers will have to obtain either an M-PESA 1-tap wristband, phone sticker or card which will allow payment integration with M-PESA 1-tap merchant terminals. The items will be available at Safaricom Shops and dealers at Sh20.
How it works
Vendors will simply need to key in the amount to be paid onto the M-PESA 1 tap point of sale device. Then they will tap their M-PESA 1 tap tag onto the point of sale device. Afterwards, the buyer will receive a pop up on their phone asking them to enter their M-PESA pin for the transaction to be processed.
“This innovation reduces the Lipa na M-PESA steps to three from the original eight steps.
Data by the Communications Authority of Kenya show that between April and June 2017, goods and services over mobile platform amounted to Sh692.1 billion which involved 316.5 million mobile commerce transactions.
The number of M-PESA transactions during the period under review was 380 million, valued at Sh903.6 billion.
In total, the report shows that there are 28 million active mobile money subscriptions while the number of agents was registered at 180,657.
Further, a total of 480.5 million transactions (withdrawals and deposits) valued at Sh1.2 trillion were made during the fourth quarter.
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