Airtel Africa has launched the Airtel Money GlobalPay Card, a virtual payment solution that gives Airtel Money users direct access to international online transactions. This means Airtel Money will compete directly with Safaricom’s M-PESA GlobalPay launched in 2022 for online payments, mainly for services like Netflix, but without support for card-based transactions.
Airtel Money GlobalPay Card is backed by Mastercard, unlike M-PESA’s powered by Visa. It enables Airtel’s 150 million users across 14 African countries to make payments to global merchants such as Netflix, Amazon, and AliExpress.
The virtual card is directly linked to Airtel Money wallets, enabling users to pay for international services and shop online without needing a traditional bank account.
Airtel has not disclosed its FX charges. However, if it absorbs these costs like some banks, it could be a more attractive option for customers.
Airtel Money customers can activate the GlobalPay Card through its utility app MyAirtel App.
M-PESA GlobalPay offers a similar virtual card system that allows customers to transact internationally through their M-PESA wallets. It is baked in the M-PESA app.
Global payments are a key profit driver for M-PESA, contributing KES 1.9 billion or $14.7 million (2.4% of total revenues of KES 77.2 billion or $596 million), up 20.3% year-over-year as of September 2024. However, Safaricom has not disclosed how many customers use GlobalPay.
The competition between Airtel Money GlobalPay and M-PESA GlobalPay reflects a broader trend of mobile money providers and banks integrating with global financial networks to meet Africa’s growing demand for digital payments.
Equity Bank’s virtual dollar card, which links mobile money and bank accounts to global payment networks, takes a similar approach, where it is not connected to a bank account.
Netflix launched in Africa in 2016 and has long been a service many Kenyans sought to pay for without a physical debit card. M-PESA GlobalPay partially addressed this need, but its 3.5% markup on transaction value at the current FX rate remains a cost factor.
