Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom has received a payment instrument issuer license from the National Bank of Ethiopia, after paying a fee of $150m, in order to expand its mobile money offering M-Pesa into Ethiopia. The move will put the telco into competition with the state-owned mobile money provider, telebirr. The Ethiopian government amended its national payment systems proclamation ahead of Safaricom's launch to provide the necessary regulatory framework for foreign-owned telecoms operators to provide mobile financial services in the country. As of March, Safaricom had three million subscribers in Ethiopia, with plans to invest $300m annually in the country over the next decade.

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