Browsing: Mark Taylor

Vodacom has secured a licence from the Financial Services Board to begin selling insurance products directly to its customers as it seeks to broaden its portfolio and expand its revenue streams in a maturing mobile market. There are few details available for now, but TechCentral has established that the cellular network

Kenyan telecommunications operator Safaricom has increased its market share from about 60% three years ago to over 80% on the back of its M-Pesa cellphone money transfer service. Now Vodacom is hoping to emulate those market share gains in SA. That’s the word from Mark Taylor, newly appointed MD of Vodacom Payment Services, the company that houses the company’s M-Pesa offering.

Vodacom is introducing a range of low-cost devices, including a US$40 smartphone, in an effort to broaden the market that has access to e-mail and the Web in SA. The smarphone, developed for Vodacom parent Vodafone and meant for use in emerging markets, has a Qwerty keyboard and a basic, 2,2-inch TFT display