A customer at an M-Pesa shop: Safaricom is leading with 45,540 agents and 15.23 million M-Pesa customers as at September last year. Photo/File
What you need to know:
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) says money passing through Safaricom, yu, Orange and Airtel rose 75pc.
The growth in the amount of deposits was partly attributed to an increase of 21.12 per cent in the number of agents working for the four telcos.
Deposits into money transfer systems offered by mobile phone companies rose by 75.33 per cent in the nine months to September last year, hitting the highest amount since the communications sector regulator started tracking the numbers.
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) Monday said phone users deposited Sh205 billion into mobile money transfer systems of Safaricom, Orange, yu and Airtel compared to Sh117.36 billion deposited over a similar period in 2011.
The growth in the amount of deposits was partly attributed to an increase of 21.12 per cent in the number of agents working for the four telcos, making it easier to access services.
CCK said that the number of agents countrywide stood at 54,409 as at the end of September last year compared to 44,922 end of September 2011.
The ease of using mobile money applications had also helped to grow the value of money and increased the use of the mobile money systems.
“This growth indicates that the mobile money transfer service has become a key payments and transaction tool, mainly due to its easy use of applications, convenience and low-cost value propositions,” said CCK in the report that summarises the performance of the sector.
The CCK data, however, does not capture total transfers and all mobile money operators which include those that do not offer voice services such as Mobikash and Tangaza.
This data is tracked by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and in the nine months to September, the banking regulator’s data shows that total transfers rose by 34.76 per cent to Sh1.117.98 trillion compared to Sh829.62 billion transferred as at the end of September 2011.
CBK’s data also shows that by the end of November last year this amount had grown by 32.69 per cent to Sh1.394.65 trillion compared to Sh1.051.07 trillion transferred over similar period the previous year.
The communications regulator said that the number of mobile money transfer subscriptions rose marginally by 4.9 per cent to 19.31 million as at September last year from 18.4 million over similar period in 2011.
CCK, however, said that compared to the previous quarter ended June 2012, the number of subscribers dropped by one per cent from 19.5 million.
Safaricom still commands a significant portion of the market having a total of 45,540 agents and 15.23 million M-Pesa customers as at the end of September last year.
This means in the nine months Safaricom controlled 83.7 per cent of the agents and at least 78.87 per cent of customers who were using mobile money platforms offered by telecommunications operators.
During the release of the half year results, John Tombleson, Safaricom’s chief financial officer, said that in September alone, Sh69 billion was deposited into the M-Pesa system.
“Compared to the same period the previous year, a 21.1 per cent growth was recorded. The growth in the number of agents shows that the mobile money transfer service has provided new avenues for employment in the country and increased the accessibility of money transfer services,” said CCK in the report.
CBK data shows that as at the end of November last year, there were 75,226 mobile money agents country wide.
