M-Pesa, the mobile money system run by wireless provider Safaricom, has been the standard for mobile money since its inception in 2007 in Kenya. Today, M-Pesa is providing more than 16 million Kenyans with access to basic financial services, and the service has expanded to other countries including Afghanistan and India.

According to a post on Kenya's Business Daily, M-Pesa is upgrading its services to a new platform, one that will make M-Pesa the envy of mobile payment providers in developed economies as well emerging markets. The new platform will expand the processing capacity of M-Pesa and will also allow users to settle post-paid utility bills, insurance premiums and other payments in real-time.

Chinese telecommunications provider Huawei will handle the migration for M-Pesa. The project should take approximately 18 months to complete with the first phase finished at the end of this year, the post said.

Former Safaricom Chief Executive Michael Joseph said that, along with bill payments, the new platform will also allow M-Pesa the ability to integrate with other vendors including retail outlets, allowing for the possibility that real-time, in-store payments could be offered by M-Pesa sometime in the future.

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