3 Telco-Driven Apps To Watch in Emerging Markets in 2022

Super apps like China’s WeChat have become intrinsic to consumers’ lives, moving beyond messaging apps to cater to a wide array of digital service needs like payment transfers, buying train tickets, paying rent, or purchasing goods and services.

For emerging markets, the proliferation of these super apps is expected to continue this year, as smartphone adoption increases and as these multi-functional, all-in-one applications (apps) gain popularity with consumers looking to centralize all their needs in a single portal.

In Africa, mobile network operators (MNOs) have spearheaded the launch of telco-driven super apps, leveraging key strategic assets such as pre-existing subscriber bases, merchant relationships and customer insights gathered from the large amounts of data they collect.

This piece looks at three major telco-driven super apps for African consumers to watch in 2022.

MTN’s Ayoba

Launched in May 2019, MTN’s Ayoba is considered Africa’s first super app.

Available to both MTN and non-MTN customers, the ayoba super app gives users access to a broad range of digital and media services, including payment solutions, over 180 content channels ranging from sports news, music to fashion and travel, as well as access to 35 micro-apps, including MTN Online School (South Africa) and MTN MoMo (Ghana).

To boost localized content, ayoba users can also send and receive messages in 22 different languages.

Read more: South Africa Telco MTN Targets $5 Billion For Mobile Money Expansion

In December 2021, MTN announced that the instant messaging platform had reached 10 million monthly active users after hitting its first million active users less than a year after it launched.

Read also: South Africa’s MTN Group First-Quarter Revenue Up 18 Pct

And as part of the company’s growth strategy, MTN will be improving and expanding the super app with new features and content throughout this year while aiming to hit 100 million monthly active ayoba users by 2025.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa

Building on its successful M-Pesa mobile money offering, which currently records about thirty million transactions in Kenya daily, Kenyan telecommunication company Safaricom launched the M-Pesa super app in June 2021.

Read more: Amazon, Safaricom Explore Enabling M-PESA Wallets On Amazon

The all-in-one app has an offline feature that allows customers to use the M-Pesa service to make payments even without data bundles or when offline. At the time of its launch, over 1.3 million customers in Kenya had already downloaded it, indicating huge consumer interest.

The super app has also integrated Paypal into the platform, enabling customers to seamlessly access funds online from M-Pesa through Paypal.

See also: Kenya Prioritizes M-Pesa Digital Money During Coronavirus Scare

Additionally, Safaricom also unveiled the M-Pesa for Business app feature to give merchants, government agencies, utilities and other businesses access to a mini-app functionality that acts as a one-stop-shop for their everyday needs such as interacting with suppliers, managing deliveries, ticket booking, license applications and renewals, and insurance coverage.

Vodacom’s VodaPay

The most recent super app launched on the continent is the VodaPay super app by South Africa-based telco Vodacom, backed by technology from Shanghai-based mobile money giant, Alipay.

Launched in October 2021, the app enables users to access online shopping and lifestyle tools as well as digital financial services. As a result, customers can shop at various retailers, order food, and store funds in a digital wallet which can then be used to send money, purchase goods or pay bills.

Learn more: 5G Services To Come To S. Africa This Year, Vodacom Says

Commenting on the introduction of VodaPay, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said the launch was “a massive achievement” for the Vodacom Group and takes the firm a step closer to its goal of “moving from a telco to a tech-co.”

Joosub added: “With VodaPay, we have introduced an innovative platform that is simple, accessible, cost-effective, and suitable for the banked and unbanked market, that operates outside the formal banking sector.”