MTN, Africa’s biggest wireless carrier, said Mastercard agreed to take a minority stake in its financial-technology business, which the company values at $5.2 billion .“Signing of the definitive investment agreements is expected to occur in the very near term,” MTN Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said in a statement on Monday.
Africa’s young, tech-savvy population are increasingly using their mobile phones to bridge gaps in services including banking. That’s opened a lucrative and fast-growing space in the fintech sector for wireless carriers. MTN rivals including Airtel Africa, Nairobi-based Safaricom, and South Africa’s Vodacom Group are all at various stages of transforming from basic voice and text mobile use to digitalization, with a broad aim of separating and monetizing the businesses in the longer term.