KENYA: Mobile money transfers up 13 per cent to Sh2.28 trillion

CYNTHIA ILAKO

The value of mobile money transactions grew 13.5 per cent over the April-June period to Sh2.28 trillion compared to Sh1.92 trillion the same period last year.

Data by the Communications Authority shows active mobile money subscriptions increased to Sh32.6 million from Sh29.6 million in 2018 signalling more Kenyans are opting to use mobile money as opposed to hard cash.

The value of e-commerce transactions accounted for 89.45 per cent of all mobile cash transfers at Sh1.95 trillion while person to person transactions was valued at Sh770.96 billion.

Telco giant Safaricom, through its M-Pesa platform, controlled 78.44 per cent of the mobile money market with transactions valued at Sh1.71 trillion.

Equitel commanded 21.55 per cent of the mobile cash industry over the review period with Sh469.86 billion worth of transactions.

CA data shows, both Airtel-money and Telkom’s T-Kash struggled to make headway in the mobile cash market cumulatively accounting for less than one per cent of total transactions at Sh843.95 million and Sh301.8 million respectively.

SOURCE: THE STAR