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HomeBankingEQUITEL’S MOBILE COMMERCE PAYMENTS DRIVE GROWTH FOR THE OPERATOR

EQUITEL’S MOBILE COMMERCE PAYMENTS DRIVE GROWTH FOR THE OPERATOR

Equitel has recorded a 16% growth in the number of mobile money commerce transactions, according to the latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) saw its mobile money commerce transactions increase to  101million as at the end of June 2019, up from   87million in the same period last year.

At the same time, the value of mobile commerce transactions increased to Kshs.378.9 billion (a 15 %increase) from Kshs.328 billion that was processed over the same period in 2018.

The operator’s continued growth in mobile commerce payments has been driven by the aggressive signing up of leading retailers and online merchants and an increase in the number of Equity agents. Currently, Equity Bank has 20,185 merchants and 38,200 agents countrywide, offering e-commerce service to both customers and merchants at no cost.

Going digital

“Our effort to digitize retail commerce operations through enrolling retail shops to transact through EazzyPay has paid off. The number of EazzyPay transactions has grown suggesting the size of transactions is increasing and the country is accepting the risk of digital money,” said Equity Group CEO and Managing Director Dr. James Mwangi.

Equitel processed over 156 million transactions as at the end of June 2019 valued at Kshs.469.9 billion, compared to 140 million at the same period last year, valued at Ksh413.4 billion.

Equitel’s person-to-person transfers grew by 8% to Kshs.126.5 billion up from Kshs.117 billion, accounting for 16% of the total Kshs. 770.9 billion transferred in June 2019. Total deposits stood at Kshs. 81 billion in the same period, accounting for 12% of the overall Kshs. 669.3 billion deposited across all mobile payment platforms.

 “Our customers are digitizing their money. Once the money is deposited on their mobile phones, they are not withdrawing but transacting with it on a digital platform and that to us is the best change we are seeing in the overall market,” noted Dr. Mwangi.

Overall, the number of active mobile money subscriptions in the country according to the CA report, stood at 32.5 million as at the end of June 2019, compared to 29.7 million as at June 2018 translating to a 10% increase, while the value of transactions increased by 11% per cent to stand at Kshs. 2.18 trillion from Kshs.1.92 trillion.

Equitel’s subscription base as at June 2019 was 1.88million, accounting for 3.6% of the market share.  Launched in July 2015, the MVNO accounted for 22% or Kshs. 469.9 billion of the Kshs2.1 trillion that was transacted in mobile money as at the end of June 2019.

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