Airtel Money is preparing to add a Mastercard‑powered virtual card to its wallet, extending Kenya’s mobile‑money competition into international online shopping.

The product, named the Airtel Money Global Pay Card, will generate a virtual Mastercard number that links directly to the user’s Airtel Money balance, enabling payments on sites that accept Mastercard such as Netflix, Spotify and Amazon.

While the card is already live in Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania, Airtel has not disclosed a specific Kenyan launch date but says the service will be introduced in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Since its 2025 launch, more than 875,000 cards have been issued across the markets where the service operates.

Airtel Money’s share of Kenya’s mobile‑money market has risen to roughly 11 % and its agent network now numbers about 270,000, providing a distribution base for the new virtual card.

The virtual card allows customers to keep funds in their Airtel Money wallet and pay overseas merchants without first moving money to a bank‑issued card, simplifying the payment route.

Airtel’s entry will place it alongside Safaricom’s M‑Pesa GlobalPay, which uses Visa; the two services will compete on fees, foreign‑exchange rates, transaction limits and merchant acceptance.

Regulatory review and internal security checks are applied to the product before launch, and the broader regulatory environment is evolving with the proposed National Payment System Bill, 2026.