Tanzania has turned out to be Vodacom’s poster child for M-Pesa, according to parent Vodafone’s 2013/14 results released this week.

But Vodacom’s leading market – South Africa – has turned into a struggle for the mobile money service, although Vodacom hopes to set the record straight shortly.

M-Pesa is operational in all Vodacom’s markets including Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania.

The service has over 4.4 million active users outside South Africa and is particularly popular in Tanzania where it contributed 19 per cent of service revenue in 2013/14.

Meanwhile South Africa will see the relaunch of M-Pesa in the next two months, CEO Shameel Joosub said at the company’s results presentation, according to IT Web.

The service has been offered in South Africa since September 2010 but is used by less than one million users which, given the size of the market, is a disappointing take-up.

The service has struggled because of regulation and the lack of integration needed to move money from a bank account to a mobile wallet.

Most famously, M-Pesa is also offered by Kenya’s Safaricom, in which Vodafone holds a 40-per-cent stake.