East Africa and Tunisia push mobile money towards interoperability

Africa’s mobile money market entered a new integration phase during the second quarter, with payment rails becoming increasingly central to regional commerce and platform growth. Vodacom Tanzania partnered with Thunes to enable real-time international payments through M-Pesa, strengthening links between mobile wallets and cross-border remittances. MTN Rwanda’s earnings reinforced the commercial value of mobile money, while Tunisia launched TUNPAY to unify mobile payment systems nationwide and create a coordinated payment identity and acceptance layer. South Sudan’s central bank also discussed a regional cross-border payment system with FSD Africa, signalling broader institutional momentum across East Africa. Vodacom’s acquisition of additional Safaricom shares gave it control of one of Africa’s leading telecoms and fintech platforms, reinforcing East Africa’s role as a key scale market for mobile wallet-led services and digital ecosystems. These developments marked a shift from domestic mobile wallet adoption to a more interoperable regional payment architecture, rewarding institutions that can scale securely across multiple regulatory environments.

Data courtesy: GSMA, 2026