Kenyan mobile money transactions rise 47% in quarter to June over year ago

NAIROBI: Transactions worth 2.1 trillion shillings ($20.3 billion) were conducted via Kenyan mobile money services in the three months to the end of June, up 47% from 1.427 trillion shillings in the same period a year earlier, data from the regulator showed.

Of the transactions, 80% were conducted on M-Pesa, the platform run by Kenya’s biggest mobile operator Safaricom , which is 35% owned by South Africa’s Vodacom .

The Communication Authority has in the past said such transactions included those related to loans, savings and cross-border transfers, as well as payments for utility bills and other goods and services.

The data showed Safaricom’s market share had slipped to 63.5% in the three-month period from 65.4% a year earlier. The company had 33.1 million subscribers at the end of June, up from 29.7 million subscribers in June 2018, it showed.