Airtel Money Kenya sends to five countries: Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia. Uganda is not one of them. Neither is South Sudan, Somalia or Burundi.
Airtel does not publish what any of it costs. The fee is shown to you on the confirmation screen, after you have entered the amount and before you enter your PIN, and that screen is the only place the real number appears. Most of this page is about reading it properly, because the fee is not the whole price.
The five countries
| Destination | Recipient is paid in |
|---|---|
| Malawi | Malawian kwacha (MWK) |
| Rwanda | Rwandan franc (RWF) |
| Tanzania | Tanzanian shilling (TZS) |
| Zambia | Zambian kwacha (ZMW) |
| Ethiopia | Ethiopian birr (ETB) |
Read off Airtel's own country selector at airtelmoney.ke/imt on 17 September 2026. Airtel can add or withdraw a corridor at any time under clause 3.4 of its IMT terms, so treat this as correct on that date and check the menu before you rely on it.
What it costs, and why we are not printing a number
Airtel publishes a tariff guide for Kenya. It covers sending within Kenya, withdrawing at an agent, and receiving money from abroad. It does not price sending out. Neither does the IMT page, and neither do the IMT terms and conditions.
Clause 6.1 of those terms says charges "will be disclosed to you before authorisation" and may vary by corridor, destination, delivery method, amount and partner. So there is no table to publish. Anyone showing you one for Airtel Money outbound either got it from a single transaction on one day, or made it up.
The exchange rate is a charge, and Airtel says so
This is the part almost nobody checks. In the terms you agree to, Airtel defines the exchange rate as "the currency conversion rate, including any applicable margin, mark-up or foreign exchange charge".
A margin built into the rate is money you paid, exactly like the fee, and it does not appear as a line item. Two services can quote the same transfer fee and deliver noticeably different amounts to the same recipient, purely on the spread.
Clause 7.1 and 7.2 also says the rate may change several times within a day, and that Airtel does not guarantee the rate on your transaction will match any rate published elsewhere. So the mid-market rate you looked up before dialling is not the rate you will get, and that is not an error.
Once you enter the PIN, it is gone
Clause 5.1 and 10.1: authorising with your PIN makes the transfer final and irrevocable, and it "may not be cancelled, amended or reversed" except in the narrow cases the terms set out.
If you send to the wrong number, a recall is a request and not a right. Clause 10.2 says recalls are handled on a reasonable efforts basis, depend on whether the funds are still unclaimed or recoverable, and depend further on the policies of the receiving institution in the other country. Airtel does not guarantee any recall will work.
And if a transfer fails and is refunded, clause 10.3 allows the refund to exclude the transaction charges. A failed transfer is not necessarily a free one.
Before your first transfer
You need an active Airtel Money account in good standing, you must be 18 or over, and your KYC must be complete. That is clause 4.1. Airtel can also ask for your source of funds, the purpose of the transfer and your relationship to the recipient, and can refuse the service if the answers are thin.
Get the recipient's details exactly right before you start. Airtel and its partners act on the number you type and clause 5.2 puts the consequences of a wrong one on you.
Kenya-side limits are the ordinary Airtel Money wallet limits: KES 250,000 per transaction and KES 500,000 a day. The receiving country may cap you lower.
Sources
- Airtel Kenya, Airtel Money International Money Transfers the destination list, read off the live country selector, read 17 September 2026.
- Airtel Money International Money Transfer Terms and Conditions (Airtel Money Kenya), read 17 September 2026. All clause numbers on this page refer to this document.