South Africa-based Vodacom reported a 17 per cent rise in revenue from its M-Pesa mobile money service for its other African markets in the three months to the end of December 2015, while the user base hit 9.7 million.

Revenue growth in Tanzania, the poster child for the operator’s money service, together with DRC, Mozambique and Lesotho was up sequentially from a 9.4 per cent growth rate in the previous quarter.

However, the operator did not reveal actual revenue figures for the four markets. Likewise, it did not reveal user numbers, or revenue figures, for its home market.  M-Pesa is thought to have been less popular in South Africa than other markets, including Tanzania.

During the quarter, Vodacom’s international markets saw the addition of 567,000 new customers, bringing its total active base to 9.7 million.

Active customers are those who have generated revenue related to M-Pesa in the past 90 days. Of the 9.7 million figure, about two thirds (6.6 million) are even busier, having been active in the past 30 days.