Vodafone Romania, the second-biggest mobile carrier on the local market, will close its money transfer and mobile payment service M-Pesa starting December 1, 2017, reports local Hotnews.ro.

The service’s clients will only be able to withdraw their money from the M-Pesa account after this date.

Vodafone launched the M-Pesa service in Romania in March 2014. Romania was the first country in Europe where the telecom operator introduced this service, which allowed money transfers and payments without a bank account or internet connection.

The group decided to terminate this service after “a detailed evaluation of its evolution”, Vodafone representatives said. Last year, Vodafone Romania M-Payments, the company that manages the M-Pesa service locally, had RON 11.7 million (EUR 2.5 million) losses, according to official data from the Finance Ministry.

editor@romania-insider.com