Vodacom Rejects Kenya’s Proposal to Split M-Pesa From Safaricom

Vodacom resists M-Pesa split. South Africa’s Vodacom Group, which owns a 40% stake in Safaricom, has ruled out separating M-Pesa, Kenya’s dominant mobile money platform, from Safaricom, despite strong pressure from officials in Nairobi pushing for structural reforms.

The proposal, long discussed within Kenyan regulatory circles, would require Safaricom to unbundle its telecom business, tower company, and mobile money division into independent entities. But Vodacom says such a move simply doesn’t make business sense.

Why Vodacom Won’t Split M-Pesa

Vodacom CEO Mohamed Joosub made the company’s position clear during an earnings call:

“We’re not looking to separately list the financial service businesses because we do see it intricately linked to the value proposition for customers.“

Joosub added that M-Pesa is increasingly connected to Safaricom’s loyalty strategy and broader ecosystem, making a split not just impractical, but strategically counterproductive.

In short: M-Pesa is too intertwined with Safaricom’s operations to exist as a standalone company.

Kenyan Authorities Want More Oversight

Kenya’s Treasury and Central Bank have argued that splitting Safaricom into separate units would:

Strengthen regulatory oversight
Improve consumer protection
Increase transparency
Give regulators clearer control over M-Pesa, which handles much of Kenya’s digital financial activity

In August 2025, Kenya’s Treasury Secretary told Bloomberg that plans were underway to divide Safaricom into:

Safaricom Telecom
A tower infrastructure company
M-Pesa Mobile Money

The government believes this restructuring could help revalue Safaricom’s assets and potentially list each unit separately in the future.

But Splitting M-Pesa Has Massive Risks

Despite regulatory pressure, there are significant obstacles:

1. A huge potential tax bill

Separating M-Pesa could trigger a tax liability of KES 75 billion ($500 million), according to CBK Governor Kamau Thugge.
That alone introduces substantial financial risk.

2. M-Pesa is Safaricom’s profit engine

For the six months to September, M-Pesa generated:

KES 88.1 billion ($560 million)
14% year-over-year growth
44% of Safaricom’s total revenue (KES 199.9 billion)

Losing M-Pesa or disturbing its operations could destabilize Safaricom’s business model.

3. Kenya’s fintech ecosystem is still expanding

Joosub emphasized that Kenya remains a fast-growing market where M-Pesa is central to customer engagement and financial inclusion.

Safaricom Prefers Internal Reorganization Instead

Safaricom’s leadership has signaled that a group reorganization, not a full split, is the best path forward. The company argues a separation should only occur if it adds value for customers and shareholders, not simply to raise regulatory oversight.

Vodacom agrees, maintaining that M-Pesa’s value lies in its integration, not its separation.

A Debate That Isn’t Going Away

The push to split Safaricom highlights broader questions about:

How to regulate mobile money platforms
The role of telecom giants in national financial systems
Balancing oversight with business stability
Protecting Kenya’s digital financial infrastructure

With M-Pesa operating as the heart of Kenyan commerce, enabling millions of daily transactions, regulators face a delicate balancing act.

Vodacom’s refusal to unbundle M-Pesa from Safaricom underscores its belief that the mobile money platform’s success depends on remaining fully integrated with telecom operations.

But with Kenyan authorities continuing to push for more oversight and structural reforms, the debate is far from settled.

M-Pesa’s future, whether as part of Safaricom or as a standalone entity, will shape Kenya’s digital economy for years to come.

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