In the next three years, mobile operator Vodacom will aim to attract ten-million customers to use its M-PESA mobile money transfer service, Vodacom South Africa executive director Romeo Kumalo said on Tuesday.

The service, which was launched on Tuesday, is a collaboration with South Africa’s fourth-largest bank, Nedbank.

The M-PESA service aimed at providing access to financial services for those that do not have bank accounts. Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys noted that about 13-million economically active South African citizens did not have access to bank accounts.

He stated that access to mobile communications was a powerful agent for economic development and that the M-PESA service would bring more people into the formal banking sector.

Nedbank CEO Mike Brown agreed that the service would allow the bank to make banking accessible to all people in South Africa.

Among other advantages, the service was simple to use and safe, and the technology was developed for the African continent, taking into consideration the local challenges, said Brown.

M-PESA had already made great strides in Kenya, where over 12-million users were currently registered, as well as in Tanzania.

The service was also expected to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises in South Africa, said Brown.

To use the service, a Vodacom customer would have to take their identity document or passport to a M-PESA outlet and register for the service. A registered user would also receive a PIN number to keep their M-PESA account secure.

Thereafter, the Vodacom customer could transfer money to any other cellphone holder in the country.

The recipient would receive an SMS to notify them that a money transfer had been done. The person could then go to any M-PESA outlet to collect the money, but would have to show the SMS, as well as their ID, to staff.

The money could also be obtained by using a Nedbank ATM, which would require users to enter their cellphone number and an authorisation code to access the funds.

Fees ranged between R2,45 and R10 a transaction, depending on the amount of money to be transferred and who the money is transferred to.

Users could also buy cellphone airtime at no additional service fee.

M-PESA services would be accessible through Nedbank ATMs, Vodacom stores and other retail outlets, such as Pep, Edcon group stores and Pick ‘n Pay stores, as well as at spaza shops.

Brown noted that the Nedbank group’s footprint was well distributed across South Africa, including the rural areas.

It was anticipated that further features, such as the paying of bills through M-PESA, would in future be added to the service offering. Also, crossborder money transfers were not presently possible, but could in future be added as a service.

Nedbank was anticipating that the service would bring more liquidity into Nedbank and that some of the users would eventually migrate to the more formal banking sector.