Selcom’s Cross-Border Payments Strategy Is Expanding Beyond East Africa
Selcom Pesa’s new international money transfer corridors to Uganda and Rwanda mark a practical shift in East Africa’s payments economy. By linking mobile wallets across borders, the platform reduces friction for households and small businesses while quietly advancing regional economic integration.
Editor's Note
Update: Since this article was first published, Selcom Pesa has expanded its cross-border payments network by adding instant transfer corridors to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia. These new destinations build on Selcom’s existing international corridors, including Uganda and Rwanda. The analysis below reflects this broader, incremental expansion rather than a standalone product launch.
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This week, Selcom Pesa expanded its international money transfer network by adding new instant corridors to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zambia, building on existing cross-border connections that already link Tanzania to Uganda and Rwanda. Transfers continue to reach MTN and Airtel Money platforms in Uganda and Rwanda, while newer corridors extend reach into Southern and Central Africa.
On the surface, this looks like a product update. Economically, it represents something deeper: the steady re-engineering of East Africa’s retail payments architecture.
Cutting friction in regional cash flows
Cross-border payments in East Africa have long been expensive relative to income levels. Small traders, migrant workers, students and families move value across borders frequently, yet the infrastructure serving them has remained slow, fragmented and costly. Each intermediary adds fees, delays and uncertainty.
By routing international transfers directly between mobile money systems, Selcom Pesa compresses both time and cost. The economic implication is straightforward. When transaction friction falls, transaction volume rises. This effect has already been proven within domestic mobile money markets. Extending it across borders unlocks similar network effects at the regional level.
For Tanzania, the immediate gain is efficiency. Money sent to Uganda or Rwanda no longer needs to pass through formal banking rails for small-value transfers. That lowers the opportunity cost of regional engagement, especially for informal and semi-formal economic actors who dominate cross-border trade in East Africa.
Mobile money as regional infrastructure
This expansion trajectory represents a broader shift in how financial infrastructure is being built in the region. Historically, banks and international money transfer operators controlled cross-border payments. Mobile money platforms excelled domestically but stopped at national boundaries.
Selcom’s new corridors challenge that structure. By integrating directly with dominant mobile money networks in Uganda and Rwanda, the company is positioning mobile money as regional infrastructure, not just a domestic convenience.
This matters for economic integration. Payments are foundational. Trade, labour mobility and service delivery all depend on how easily value moves. When payments integrate faster than policy frameworks, they quietly force harmonisation from the bottom up.
Importantly, this infrastructure is being extended incrementally, corridor by corridor, rather than introduced as a single regional leap.
Competitive dynamics and market signalling
The choice of partners is strategic. MTN and Airtel control the bulk of mobile money volumes in both Uganda and Rwanda. Interoperability with these platforms ensures immediate reach and reduces the risk of partial adoption. Economically, this lowers coordination failure. Users are not required to guess which wallet works. Reliability becomes the default.
The decision to bundle international money transfers at zero cost between 15 December 2025 and 15 January 2026 further reinforces this logic. Fee holidays are not revenue giveaways. They are demand discovery tools. By removing price friction temporarily, Selcom allows users to test speed, reliability and convenience. If trust is established, usage persists even after fees are reintroduced.
From a market perspective, this signals confidence in long-term transaction volume rather than short-term fee extraction.
Implications for households and small businesses
At the household level, cheaper and faster transfers improve cash flow management. For small traders operating between Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, instant mobile transfers reduce reliance on cash, middlemen and informal couriers. That lowers risk and improves liquidity.
At scale, these micro-level efficiencies aggregate into macro-level gains. Reduced transaction costs increase the effective income of households and raise the productivity of small enterprises. Over time, this strengthens domestic consumption and cross-border trade linkages.
A private-sector push for regional integration
Selcom’s expansion highlights a recurring pattern in East Africa’s economic development. Private payment infrastructure is often ahead of regional policy alignment. While governments negotiate integration frameworks, fintech firms are already connecting markets in practice.
This does not replace formal integration. But it changes the baseline. Once users experience seamless regional payments, reversing that expectation becomes politically and economically costly.
More corridors are expected. If executed with the same focus on utility rather than publicity, Selcom Pesa could evolve from a national payment platform into a regional transaction layer. That would place it at the centre of East Africa’s everyday economic exchange.
In the long run, the success of regional integration will be measured less by treaties and more by whether sending money across borders feels as ordinary as sending it across the street. Selcom’s latest move suggests that transition is already underway.