Vodacom Tanzania has launched Africa’s first mobile-money tap-to-pay service through M-Pesa, enabling customers to make contactless payments using an Android phone at any Visa-enabled point-of-sale terminal, locally and internationally. The feature is built on technology from Paymentology, a South African-founded cloud payments company.
Until now, tap-to-pay on mobile devices across Africa was available only through bank-linked applications or platforms from global technology companies including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. The M-Pesa integration extends that capability to mobile-money users for the first time on the continent, a significant jump given that M-Pesa’s user base is unbanked or underbanked in large part.
- The feature is live through Vodacom Tanzania’s M-Pesa platform from March 2026.
- Paymentology, formerly Tutuka, is a South African-founded cloud-based payments processor that issues and processes physical and virtual cards for banks, fintechs and telecoms. It was acquired in 2021 as part of the Salt Pay group, now Teya.
- Tanzania’s mobile money market reached 76.5 million accounts as of December 2025, a 21% increase from the prior year.
- Vodacom is in the process of increasing its stake in Kenya’s Safaricom to a controlling interest. Until that deal closes, Vodacom and Safaricom operate M-Pesa as a 50/50 joint venture.
- In January 2026, M-Pesa partnered with the ADI Foundation on stablecoin integration for cross-border remittances.
Paymentology works with institutions across Africa including Standard Bank, Access Bank, Mukuru and Mama Money. Its technology sits behind the scenes: the customer interaction remains entirely within M-Pesa’s familiar interface, with the contactless payment routed through Visa’s acceptance network. The partnership required four parties to align: Vodacom, M-Pesa Africa, Visa and Paymentology.
Vodacom Tanzania M-Pesa director Epimack Mbeteni called the launch "a live reality" following what he described as deep collaboration across all four partners. Paymentology said the feature "opens new opportunities for merchants and entrepreneurs in Tanzania to serve customers who increasingly expect contactless, mobile-based payments."
Bigger Picture: Tap-to-pay is a small feature unlock with large structural implications. Tanzania has 76.5 million mobile money accounts and a population of 65 million, meaning mobile money penetration exceeds one account per person when including multiple registrations. Converting that installed base into contactless Visa-network payments compresses the distance between an informal mobile wallet and a global payment rail. For merchants, it reduces cash handling. For consumers, it extends M-Pesa’s reach to every Visa terminal on earth. If Vodacom rolls this across its M-Pesa markets and Safaricom follows in Kenya, tap-to-pay becomes a mass-market product across East Africa’s 200 million mobile money users without any of them needing a bank account.
Source: Business Day
