Johannesburg — THE days when South Africans will pay for a taxi ride by simply transferring the fare to the driver's cellphone are not far away, the head of SA's largest cellphone company said yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of the M- Pesa mobile money transfer service that will be jointly run with Nedbank, Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys says the possibilities are endless.

And if Kenya's experience with its own M-Pesa service is anything to go by, Mr Uys and Nedbank CEO Mike Brown believe they have not only struck a rich vein, but also opened a new frontier in the battle for theunbanked.