Safaricom dominates mobile money in Kenya with data showing that it has a market share of 99.9 per cent.
The data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows that M-Pesa has grown its share of the value of mobile money transactions in the last three years to hit Sh. 2.206 trillion (which is the equivalent of 99.9 percent) out of the total of Sh. 2.208 trillion worth of transactions in 2021.
This incredible growth has seen M-Pesa eat into the market of Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash. Over this period, Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash share in the market has dropped to 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
The data from CBK also shows that Safaricom grew its control of the mobile money market from 99.7 percent in 2019 to 99.8 percent in 2020.
In the same period, Airtel Money recorded a drop in its share from 0.3 percent in 2019 to 0.2 percent 2020. T-Kash on the other hand grew from 0.004 percent to 0.006 percent in the same period.
Since 2018, subscribers on Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom have been able to send money across mobile phone networks but can only withdraw cash from agents associated with their respective operators.
Over the last few months, Airtel and Telkom have stepped up their petitions to have Safaricom declared as a dominant market player in a bid to even the market.
This has included the splitting of Safaricom’s voice and data from its money transaction arm, M-Pesa, a move which the telecommunications giant is uncomfortable with.
KCB Group makes Sh. 34.2 billion net profit as assets cross Sh. 1 trillion
According to the CBK, competition in the industry is being addressed through increased integration of the competing platforms.
“Key initiatives to impact the payments sector include full-scale interoperability to build on existing collaboration and progress to national switch ‘pay anyone anywhere,” the CBK said in a presentation to the National Assembly.
