Safaricom and Airtel Kenya rolled out mobile money interoperability across the country, with Telkom Kenya also making preparations to join the scheme.

The widely anticipated move follows pressure from authorities and comes after a trial phase started in January.

Following this week’s launch, customers of Airtel Money and Safaricom’s m-Pesa will be able to seamlessly transfer funds between the two services for a much lower cost than was previously the case.

Although not part of the original trial, Telkom Kenya’s T-kash service is set to be added “soon” according to a joint statement from the three operators.

Announcing the service to customers through an advertisement in the country’s newspapers last week, the three said the move would further drive the financial inclusion agenda in Kenya and “empower” users.

Kenya is the 15th country around the world to introduce service interoperability for mobile money services, a policy the GSMA highlights as a key driver to boost adoption and financial inclusion.