Activities of the subsidiaries of Airtel Commerce B. V. and MTN Group have come under investigation by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission for possible infractions of its regulation with respect to International Money Transfers (IMT). This was stated in its Notice of Investigations Circular dated 30th of January, 2025.
For MTN’s subsidiary, MTN Mobile Money Uganda, the Commission noted that in some cases of IMT, the actual amount sent to the recipient is different from the amount displayed to the sender.
Furthermore, the Commission will investigate situations where the details of the sender are not shown to the recipient at the time of receipt of the money. Also, there have been cases where intermediaries and consumer information shared with the intermediaries may not be disclosed to customers.
Airtel Commerce B. V. faces investigations for its activities in three markets – Malawi, Kenya and Uganda. In Malawi, Airtel Mobile Commerce Limited, Malawi will have to answer similar questions as MTN Mobile Money, Uganda, relating to the sender’s details, actual charges for a transaction and the fact that the intermediary information is not always shared with customers.
Furthermore, there have been complaints that the final confirmation of the amount transferred to recipients, which is sent to the sender, does not state the actual amount sent in the recipients’ currency.
In Kenya, Airtel Mobile Commerce Limited Kenya will come under scrutiny for likely disparities in the charges shown to the sender before completing the transaction and the actual charges shown in the final confirmation message after the transaction is completed. Also, details of the intermediary parties, the exchange rate used and the sender’s information are not disclosed to the customers.
Airtel Mobile Commerce Limited, Uganda, is under investigation for likely dibetween the actual exchange rates used for transactions and the exchange rate shown to the sender. Also, the final confirmation of the transaction does not always show which exchange rate was used. This will likely deny senders evidence of full information of transactions.
Again, the mobile money is being investigated for non-disclosure of intermediaries’ and consumer information to customers.
In 2024, Airtel Africa announced a $20 million increase in revenue, from $202 million in Q2 2023 to $222 million in Q2 2024. The telco’s financial report for 2024 noted that 31.7% of the recorded growth could be attributed to the revenue growth in East Africa.
The Commission, however, stressed that the commencement of these investigations on both company’s subsidiaries neither presupposes at this point that the conduct being investigated is an unfair business practice nor that they have violated the Regulations.
Interested stakeholders and consumers are to make their representations to the Commission by 28th February 2025.
Mobile Money provides faster and cheaper money transfer options for users in East Africa. The concerns raised by users, leading to the investigations are supposed to introduce avenues for improvement in the financial service delivery for the mobile money operators under the COMESA Commission.