The launch of an API for M-Pesa has been held back because the mobile money platform is not hosted in its home country, according to an AllAfrica report of a speech by a Safaricom executive.

However, there are plans to bring the platform to Kenya by March 2015, said Veronica Ogeto, the operator’s head of innovation, speaking during the Pivoteast 2014 conference.

“If Safaricom rolled out an API, it would see many website owners implement some functionalities such as M-Pesa payment options on their websites. This would see many websites implement very efficient payment gateways,” she also said.

The M-Pesa platform is currently hosted in Germany and Safaricom pays Vodafone – its leading shareholder – to manage it.

According to a recent article in The Daily Nation, once the platform goes live in Kenya then Safaricom will only have to pay Vodafone licence fees for the intellectual property rights to M-Pesa.

Vodafone developed the original concept of M-Pesa, which has been a huge success in Kenya and has spread to some other markets.