Algeria: Djezzy allowed to set up its payments company, a first crack in a cash-dominated market

On 23 September 2026, the Money and Credit Council of the Bank of Algeria authorised Djezzy Payment Services, a subsidiary of Optimum Telecom Algérie, the company that runs the mobile operator Djezzy, to set up as a payment service provider. It is the first time a telecom operator has received this green light in Algeria.

Several outlets presented the decision as the arrival of mobile payments in the country. That is jumping ahead a little. It is an important regulatory step, but not yet a licence to operate. To understand what it changes, the two stages of the procedure need to be distinguished and the decision placed in the context of Algeria’s payments landscape.

Two stages: incorporation, then licensing

The applicable framework is the 2023 monetary and banking law 23-09 and regulation 25-02, which governs payment service providers, or PSPs. These new financial intermediaries can offer payment services without being banks: they do not lend money, but they can manage payment accounts, transfers and payment collection for merchants.

The procedure has two stages. First, authorisation to incorporate, which Djezzy has just obtained: it allows the company to be created and to prepare its business. Then, the licence, which actually allows it to operate. The subsidiary has at most twelve months from notification to file its licence application. Only after this second stage will it be able to offer its services to the public.

• What Djezzy will be able to do once licensed: electronic payment solutions, including mobile payments and payment terminals for merchants, within the limits set by the Bank of Algeria.
• What Djezzy will not be able to do: grant credit or operate as a bank.
• The deadline: at most twelve months to apply for the licence.

A country very attached to banknotes

Algeria is one of the countries in the region where cash still plays the biggest role in everyday transactions. A large part of the economy runs on cash, including for major purchases, and part of the population has no active bank account. For several years, the authorities have stated the goal of reducing this dependence, to modernise the economy, improve financial inclusion and fight money laundering and the informal economy.

Some tools already exist. Algérie Poste’s Edahabia card is very widespread, and banks offer the CIB interbank card. Electronic payment online and at terminals is growing, but remains far from the levels seen in neighbouring countries or in sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile money has transformed habits.

The telecom operator model

The authorities’ reasoning draws on the experience of other African countries. Mobile operators have an advantage banks do not: they reach almost the entire adult population, including in rural areas, and have networks of retail outlets that can serve as agents for depositing and withdrawing money.

In Kenya, Safaricom’s M-Pesa has become a full financial platform, under central bank supervision. In Nigeria, the central bank granted MTN and Airtel payment service bank licences, allowing them to offer deposits, transfers and payments without being conventional commercial banks. Algeria is joining this movement, with a cautious framework that keeps the central bank at the centre of the system.

A state-owned operator in the front line

One detail gives the decision added significance: Djezzy has been owned by the Algerian state, through the National Investment Fund, since it bought out the former foreign shareholder. The first operator authorised to move into payments is therefore state-owned, in a mobile market where the other two players are Mobilis, a subsidiary of the state-owned Algérie Télécom group, and Ooredoo.

The question of competition will arise quickly. If Djezzy obtains its licence and launches a mobile payment service, its competitors will logically seek the same status. Success will also depend on interoperability: a mobile wallet is only valuable if it can be used to pay anywhere, including people who are customers of other operators or banks.

Lessons from other countries

The African experience shows that a licence is not enough. M-Pesa’s success in Kenya rests first on its agent network: hundreds of thousands of shops where cash can be deposited and withdrawn, a few minutes from home. Without these points for converting between cash and electronic money, a mobile wallet remains a curiosity. The second factor is simplicity: a service that works on any phone, including without the internet, through USSD menus.

The third factor is everyday use. Mobile money took off when it met concrete needs: sending money to family in another city, paying an electricity bill, receiving a salary or social assistance. In Algeria, transfers between individuals, bill payments and purchases in local shops would be the first uses to watch. Diaspora remittances, large but often informal, are also a potential market, provided foreign exchange regulations allow it.

An opening for Algerian fintechs

The decision also matters to young companies. In recent years, Algeria has created a “start-up” label and a dedicated public fund, the Algerian Startup Fund, to support innovation. But fintechs ran into an obstacle: the lack of a clear status allowing them to handle payments without going through a bank. The payment service provider status, if granted to players other than telecom operators, could open the door for them. How the next applications are handled will show whether the Bank of Algeria intends to open the market widely or reserve it for a few established players. For now, it is moving step by step.

What to watch

Several factors will decide whether this opening really changes habits. First, fees: a mobile payment must cost less than cash, or no more, to convince merchants and customers. Next, the acceptance network: merchants must be able to accept payments easily, without an expensive terminal. Finally, trust: in a country where cash remains the benchmark, account security and fast refunds in case of error will be decisive.

The Bank of Algeria has laid the first stone. The final licence, expected within twelve months, and above all the first uses will show whether mobile payments can find their place in the Algerian economy as they have elsewhere on the continent. For Algerian fintech start-ups, which have struggled for years to find a clear framework, the opening of the PSP status is also news to follow closely.