Vodafone Group announced the rollout of mobile money platform M-Pesa in Ghana, the 11th market where it has launched the service so far.

The launch comes after a successful pilot period, which started in August this year, with service set to operate under the ‘Vodafone Cash’ brand.

Vodafone said approximately 64 per cent of the country’s population does not have access to bank accounts, amounting to approximately 15 million people.

By using the service, Ghanaians’ will be able to transfer money from their phones at home and on the move.

“Vodafone Cash extends the revolution of mobile money to Ghana, liberating our customers from the risks associated with carrying cash at all times,” said Michael Joseph, Vodafone’s director of Mobile Money. “The strong demand for the service following the pilot launched in August shows that Ghanaians’ greatly value the freedom, peace of mind, security and convenience that M-Pesa offers.”

Vodafone said M-Pesa usage worldwide increased 27 per cent year on year to reach 23.4 million active customers across the Vodafone Group by the end of September, with accelerated growth particularly coming from east Africa during 2015, most notably Kenya and Tanzania.

M-Pesa in Kenya is run by the country’s largest operator SafariCom, of which Vodafone owns a 40 per cent stake.

International money transfers via M-Pesa customers between Kenya and Tanzania were launched in April this year, representing the first time the service could be used cross border.

M-Pesa has also seen widespread uptake in India, where there are around 665,000 active users, with the service granted approval in principle by the reserve Bank of India to establish a payments bank.

Vodafone claimed more than two billion individual M-Pesa transactions were made in the six months to September, up 26 per cent from the same period last year.