Tanzania made rival mobile-money networks interoperate, with IFC as neutral broker

Tanzania's mobile money market boomed in the early 2010s: between 2009 and 2013 the share of adults using non-bank formal financial services — mostly mobile money — jumped from just under 7 percent to almost 44 percent, lifting financial inclusion from about 16 percent to close to 58 percent (CGAP, citing FSDT). But each operator's wallet was a closed island: over 40 percent of surveyed users said they had to visit multiple agents to cash in or out, and nine in ten said they would send money to any network if they could.

The move was not a regulator's decree. IFC hosted the initiative as a neutral broker: it engaged the four mobile money providers (Airtel, Vodacom, Tigo and Zantel) and the two largest banks (CRDB and NMB), ran a market demand study, and facilitated expert workshops and monthly industry meetings. The Bank of Tanzania endorsed the industry-led process instead of mandating it. Out of this came the first set of person-to-person interoperability rules, covering participation criteria, governance, clearing and settlement, pricing principles, disputes and risk allocation.

Why it worked: operators had reached saturation converting voice customers into wallet users, so the only growth path left was transaction volume and velocity across networks — and the rules gave them the legal certainty to run interoperability as a business. A neutral broker mattered because no single operator could own the rulebook, and a central bank fiat might have been resisted; IFC could convene rivals and draft standards nobody would accept from each other.

Airtel, Tigo and Zantel signed and implemented the person-to-person rules; Vodacom was in the process of joining as of September 2015. Tanzania stood as the first industry-led and industry-decided interoperability implementation in Africa. IFC's 2024 report still cites the 2014 agreement as a key outcome of its engagement and documents strong subsequent growth in mobile merchant payments across 2019–2022.

Neutral broker writes the rules rivals will sign

Operators were at saturation converting voice customers into wallet users, so growth had to come from more transactions across networks — the one thing interoperability unlocks.

A neutral broker (IFC) ran the process, so no competitor owned the rulebook and rivals could sign rules they would not accept from each other.

The Bank of Tanzania endorsed rather than mandated the solution, so adoption was market-led and operators had ownership of the outcome.

Workshops produced concrete operating rules — participation, clearing and settlement, pricing, disputes — giving operators legal certainty to make interoperability a business.

When rivals must share a rail, neither regulator fiat nor one operator's rules work. A neutral broker that runs the process can get competitors to sign rules none would accept from each other.

Financial inclusion kept climbing: Findex 2014 put formal account access in Tanzania at 40 percent of adults, up from 17 percent in 2011, a faster journey than Kenya's in some respects. IFC's later market report shows mobile merchant payments grew strongly through 2019–2022, with merchants across virtually all industries accepting digital payments with some frequency, and the 2014 agreement is still described as the key outcome of IFC's long engagement in the Tanzanian market.