Safaricom has announced the availability of M-Pesa 1Tap in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nyeri after what the company calls a successful four-month trial, according to a press release.

M-Pesa 1Tap is supposed to be faster way to pay with M-Pesa that involves contactless technology using a card, wristband or sticker.Consumers enter a PIN to confirm a transaction.

"As a trusted, easy and convenient cashless payment solution for more than 70,000 businesses in Kenya, Lipa Na M-Pesa is ready to advance to become a more seamless solution," Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, said in the release. "M-Pesa 1Tap builds on a strong foundation built on 10 years of learning and feedback from both our customers and merchants. We hope it will transform the world of cashless payments."

Safaricom said M-Pesa 1Tap will be progressively rolled out to leading supermarkets, petrol stations, and restaurants.

Some of the merchants where customers can now make payments with 1Tap include Shell, Naivas, Choppies, KenolKobil, KFC, Oil Libya, Total and QuickMart. The merchant solution currently involves an NFC-based reader integrated to merchants Lipa Na M-Pesa tills.