MTN Group and Vodacom Group together processed just over US$1 trillion in mobile money transactions in their most recent financial years—an important milestone for Africa’s two largest telco-backed fintech players—despite the fact that the two operators are now pursuing increasingly distinct routes to scale.
In terms of revenue, Vodacom surpassed MTN. Vodacom’s reported consolidated financial services revenue increased 19.6% year over year to R16.8 billion in the year ending March 31, 2026. The group’s fintech footprint increases by an additional R24.5 billion to R41.3 billion when Safaricom, in which Vodacom has a 34.94% effective interest, is added on a 100% basis.
Vodacom is currently engaged in a contentious attempt to increase its exposure to Safaricom. The Kenyan government’s intended sale of a 15% share in Safaricom to Vodacom is still on hold as a result of the Nairobi high court’s extension of the deal’s freeze this week, pending the resolution of a constitutional challenge.
In comparison, MTN reported group fintech revenue of R30.3 billion for the year that concluded on December 31, 2025, an increase of 23.2% in terms of constant currency.
Fintech now accounts for 13.1% of MTN’s service revenue, compared to Vodacom’s combined 12.6%. The comparisons are not exact like-for-like because the two companies’ fiscal year-ends occur three months apart.
When it comes to the transaction values handled by their separate platforms, the two companies are even more similar. In 2025, MTN’s MoMo platform processed $500.3 billion, an increase of 37.6% in constant currency.
Together, Vodacom and Safaricom handled $525.6 billion, a 16.6% increase. In their most recent fiscal years, the two operators transferred somewhat more than $1 trillion in mobile money together, demonstrating the current significance of mobile network operators in Africa’s financial system.
Diverging
But that’s where the similarities start to diverge.
MTN has 69.5 million monthly active MoMo users, up from 63.1 million a year ago. Vodacom has 103 million financial services consumers overall, including Safaricom. However, compared to MTN’s sixteen markets, Vodacom’s fintech operations only include eight—six of which are fully or mostly owned, plus Safaricom’s operations in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Safaricom’s near-monopoly position in Kenya serves as the foundation for Vodacom’s wager that depth in fewer markets outweighs breadth.
Additionally, there are differences in the product strategies. With 9.6 million unique users and $3.6 billion in loans disbursed through its lending platform in 2025, MTN is progressively developing bank-tech as a stand-alone business. In collaboration with Mastercard, the operator has introduced a virtual card.
Higher-margin services are being added to M-Pesa rails by Vodacom. With R26.7 billion in loans made during the year, M-Pesa’s “beyond core” services—lending, savings, and merchant offerings—now make up 46.4% of its total revenue from its global operations. At 3.2 million, Safaricom’s Kenyan merchant base increased by 71.9%.
The rails that the two telcos have constructed are being surrounded by other players. Optasia, an AI-enabled microlender that went public on the JSE in November 2025 at a valuation of R23.5 billion, employs mobile providers, such as MTN and Vodacom, for customer access and distribution. It captures value at a layer above the fundamental payments rail and is a complementing move rather than a competitive one.
A more straightforward potential substitute is stablecoins. According to a BVNK Stablecoin Utility Report created in collaboration with YouGov, Coinbase, and Artemis, 95% of African respondents would prefer to receive payments in stablecoins, compared to a global average of 77%. This is due to the continent’s lack of conventional banking channels and the demand for dollars.
Stablecoins
In South Africa, three rand-pegged stablecoins have debuted in quick succession: ZARP, supported by Old Mutual; ZAR Supercoin, supported by Super Group, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange; and, most recently, Zaru, supported by Luno, EasyEquities, Lesaka Technologies and Sanlam.
Today, telecom companies continue to hold a strong position. In the company’s 2025 integrated report, Mcebisi Jonas, chairman of MTN Group, stated: “Our investment case remains compelling because the continent has a youthful demographic, is experiencing increasing digital adoption and connectivity is critical for economic growth and social stability.”
The most intriguing question—and the one that will determine who gets the next trillion dollars—is whether Vodacom’s Safaricom-anchored concentration or MTN’s wide-footprint, vertical-stack strategy produces greater long-term profits.
