March 20th, 2015 
DCA 
An M-Pesa agent attends to a customer. PHOTO | FILE
In Summary
- Analysts at the Standard Investment Bank say the probability of the service being rolled out globally increases competition to mobile payment services such as M-Pesa and limits future growth plans.
- Safaricom on Thursday however said it does not see any immediate threat in the Kenyan market.
Research analysts at the Standard Investment Bank see a threat to Safaricom M-Pesa’s future business plans in Facebook’s new mobile payment services.
In a research note sent to investors on Thursday, the analysts said the probability of the service being rolled out globally increases competition to mobile payment services such as M-Pesa and limits future growth plans.
Safaricom on Thursday however said it does not see any immediate threat in the Kenyan market.
“The service is only enabled for Facebook users to send money to each other in the US, we do not see any immediate impact here in Kenya. Keep in mind Facebook currently reaches less than four million users in Kenya,” said Safaricom corporate affairs director Nzioka Waita in an interview.
On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it is adding a feature to its Facebook Messenger app that will enable people to send payments directly to their friends on the social network. Read more
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