Business
Kenya: Mobile Money transactions in hit $13 billion in 6 months
Kenyans transacted US$13 billion on mobile money in the first 6 months of this year as new players joined the sector according to the latest Central Bank of Kenya numbers.
This is a new high in mobile money use, with the figure surpassing that of a similar period last year by US$3 billion.
The growth cements the East African nation’s position as the top user of mobile money across the world. Three new players have joined the sector in the past months.
Kenya’s telecommunications regulator – the Communications Authority of Kenya, in April licensed mobile virtual network operators Zioncell, Tangaza Pesa and Finserve to enhance competition in the industry that has been dominated by the M-PESA platform, which is operated by the country’s largest cellular carrier, Safaricom.
The new firms are expected not only to stiffen competition, but also to deepen the use of mobile money as their transactions are across networks.
The largest mobile money transactions in the period from January to June were recorded in May, at US$ 2.3 billion, according to the data from the Central Bank of Kenya.
It is the first time in the history of mobile money in the East African nation that transactions hit the mark. The boom can be attributed to the start of the new school term, during the month after the holidays, as many Kenyan parents use mobile money to pay school fees.
