Mastercard is buying into MTN's fintech business – after courting with Airtel

Loy Okezie -

For years, the name MTN has been known for voice and SMS communications across Africa. But, the South African telecom giant has been gradually re-strategising its business operations to focus on new key areas.

With investments in payments, messaging, e-commerce, and its cloud business, the telco has moved from a voice and SMS-based company to a technology powerhouse.

For example, MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) – an arm of its fintech business – reached 69.1 million users in 17 markets, as of 2022, boasting 1.3 million active agents and 1.5 million active merchants. What is more? MTN's payments play recorded 13.4 billion transactions in 2022, and processed $2.2 billion remittances in 2022.