Telco giant, Safaricom and commercial banks in Kenya are negotiating with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to stop a zero-rated policy on mobile money transactions which was introduced to cushion the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The telecom company and banks are seeking a deal with the CBK that will see the regulator consult them if it decides to extend free mobile money transfers beyond December 31.
Telcos and banks have been losing millions after the directive was extended from March to December 31st. The measure stated that there would be a free transaction for anything less that KSh 1,000.
Safaricom recently published its unaudited financial results for the six months ended September 202commercial b0. Going by data from the H1 2021 report, M-Pesa’s revenue declined Y-o-Y by 14.5% from $385 million to $329 million.