Vodacom said today that its subsidiary, Vodacom Tanzania, will pay TZS3.93 billion (R24.74 million) in dividends to its M-Pesa customers who have used the service from April to June.
The group said the dividend payment covers the first quarter of the company’s financial year, and it will be paid to M-Pesa Customers, M-Pesa agents, M-Pesa Super Agents, M-Pesa Business and M-Pesa Merchants.
Happiness Shuma, M-Pesa Business head of department, said the profit will be paid to all individual customers, retail agents and other M-Pesa business partners who will receive payment based on their M-Pesa wallet transactions.
“Our mobile money service, M-Pesa, continues to be a remarkable success story, delivering significant social and financial value to Tanzanians. We have seen substantial growth on the M-Pesa platform with more customers, agents, merchants and institutions transacting around TZS100 billion through M-Pesa each day. We are happy with the growth which is why today we can disburse 3.9 billion in interest to our customers,” Shuma said.
Vodacom Tanzania is the country’s leading telecommunication company and it has more than 10 million customers on its M-Pesa platform, commanding a market share of 40 percent according to recent TCRA figures.
It has paid out a total of TZS143.5 billion as interest to its M-Pesa customers.
Shuma said the profit share for its customers is calculated as per bank of Tanzania circular and will depend on the level of activity they would have had on M- Pesa for the period.
She added they have started distributing the money to their M-Pesa wallets.
The Vodacom Group share price was down by 1.30 percent to R123.04 a share on the JSE on Thursday morning.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE