Telecommunications groups Vodacom and Safaricom plan to accelerate the expansion of M-Pesa into Africa following its acquisition for an undisclosed amount from Vodafone.

The duo have formed a joint venture (JV) to incorporate the M-Pesa brand and its product development and support services, and further expand the platform into new African markets.

“Our JV will allow Vodacom and Safaricom to drive the next generation of the M-Pesa platform – an intelligent, cloud-based platform for the smartphone age. It will also help us to promote greater financial inclusion and help bridge the digital divide within the communities in which we operate,” said Vodacom group CEO Shameel Joosub.

The payments platform, operational in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique and Egypt, boasts 40-million users and processes over a billion transactions every month.

The partnership with Vodacom will allow Safaricom to consolidate its platform development, synchronise more closely its product roadmaps and improve operational capabilities into a single, fully converged centre of excellence, said outgoing Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph.

“For Safaricom, we are excited that the management, support and development of the M-Pesa platform has now been relocated to Kenya, where the journey to transform the world of mobile payments began 13 years ago.”

With the rapid increase in smartphone penetration, the evolution into financial services and the potential for geographical expansion, the next step in M-Pesa’s African growth will be more effectively overseen by Vodacom and Safaricom, added Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read.

“M-Pesa is hugely successful and enables millions of unbanked people in Africa to transfer money, pay bills and trade,” he continued, adding that it also assists in the creation of a multitude of small and micro-business ventures.

Currently around 25% of all M-Pesa customers have access to a smartphone – a figure that is growing by 10% every year.