Sh1.7 trillion transacted on phones in three months

NAIROBI, KENYA: The value of mobile money transacted in the second quarter of 2017/18 financial year stood at Sh1.7 trillion, a new report by the Kenya Communication Authority says.

As at December 31, 2017, a total of 607.4 million mobile money transfer transactions valued at Sh1.763 trillion were carried.

The number of active mobile money transfer subscriptions and agents stood at 30.0 million and 198,234 respectively.

In addition there were 308.6 million mobile commerce transactions valued at Sh1.1 trillion. The value of person-to-person transfers amounted to Sh. 596.4 million.

Kenya currently has five mobile money services for various providers. Safaricom’s M-pesa has the largest share followed by Airtel money and the Equitel Money. Mobikash and Mobile Pay fourth and fifth respectively in the survey. Telkom Money service (T-Kash) unveiled last month was not captured in the survey.

M-pesa with 152,077 agents recorded 493,063,124 number of transaction valued at Sh1.4 trillion while Airtel money with 23,515 agents had over 2 million transactions valued at around Sh1.5billion.

Recently the industry regulator introduced the cross network money transfer to allow mobile money subscribers seamlessly send and receive money across networks.

This service will allow for the seamless transfer of funds from one mobile money wallet to another across Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom, shortening the cumbersome process consumers were subjected to when transacting across networks.

“Previously, the transfer across networks was complex, costly and inconvenient,” explains a joint statement from Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom announcing the launch.