Safaricom and Vodacom have introduced a tap-to-pay option in Tanzania, allowing mobile money customers to make contactless payments at Visa-enabled checkout terminals.

Shoppers can now pay by tapping their smartphones at point-of-sale terminals that accept Visa, removing the need to input a merchant’s Paybill or till number or swipe a physical card.

The feature is a regional first. It will initially roll out to Android users, who form the majority in Tanzania.

Vodacom Tanzania and M-Pesa Africa partnered with payment card processor Paymentology to provide the issuing and processing infrastructure, the companies said.“The new capability allows M-Pesa customers to make contactless payments using their Android mobile phones at any Visa-enabled point-of-sale terminal, both locally and internationally, transforming how millions of users pay, travel and do business,” they said.

Tap-to-pay uses Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to transmit payment data from a smartphone app to a point-of-sale terminal. Users store their mobile money accounts, such as M-Pesa, or a virtual card in an app, then tap or hover their phone within an inch of the reader to complete transactions instantly.

Fintech growthTanzania’s mobile money sector is expanding rapidly, driven by rising use of digital financial services. Registered accounts reached 76.5 million in December 2025, up from 63.2 million a year earlier, according to the Communications Regulatory Authority.

The companies did not say when the feature will extend to Apple’s iOS users or expand to the seven other countries where M-Pesa Africa operates, including Kenya, its largest market.

M-Pesa launched in Tanzania in 2008 and remains the leading mobile money service, with a 40.4 percent market share as of mid-2025.

The company is also pushing its M-Pesa Visa Virtual Card, a digital prepaid or debit card for online shopping, subscriptions and international payments. Paymentology said the tap-to-pay system extends the functionality of the virtual card.

Across Africa, M-Pesa has more than 60 million customers in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia. Kenya remains its primary hub, with an 89.7 percent share of the country’s mobile money market.

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