Kenyan telco Safaricom is waiving fees for its hugely popular M-Pesa mobile money service in an effort to encourage people to ditch cash during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following a meeting with the Central Bank of Kenya's governor to explore ways to reduce the risk of spreading the virus through the physical handling of cash, Safaricom is making all P2P transactions of less than Ksh1000 (about $10) free for the next 90 days.
In an effort to support SMEs, M-Pesa daily transaction limits have been raised from Ksh70,000 to Ksh150,000, with Kenyans able to transact and hold in their wallets up to Ksh300,000.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation advised consumers to avoid handling bank notes and instead switch to contactless payments to deter the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The WHO's advice came after China and Korea began isolating and disinfecting used bank notes, which are known carriers of viruses and bacteria.
M-Pesa has more than 20 million customers and 175,00 agents in Kenya, a country that currently has four active cases of Covid-19.