Airtel Money market share rose slightly from 6.6% in the final quarter of 2023/2024 to 7.6% in three months to September 2024, according to sector statistics from the Communications Authority (CA).
At the same time Safaricom’s M-Pesa market share slipped marginally from 93.4% in the June 2024 to 92.3% in September 2024.
Finserve (Equitel) mobile sim subscriptions overtook Telkom Kenya and Jamii Networks, recording 2.1% of the market share while its rivals took 1.7% and 0.9% in market share respectively.
However, Safaricom maintained its lead in mobile sim subscriptions with 65.7% in market share while Airtel has 29.6% market share. With both networks recording slight decimal growth compared to the preceding quarter.
As per the Q4 2023/2024 statistics, CA showed that Telkom and Equitel at par with 2.1% market share, while Jamii’s market share has remained unchanged.
Overall mobile money subscriptions in Kenya crossed the 40 million mark in September 2024, growing by 2% from 39.8 million in June 2024. The number of mobile money agents across the country grew by 5.1% from 347,699 in June 2024 to 365,432 in September last year.
In the latest data, the total number of mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks was 68.1 million, a penetration rate of 132.2%. Smartphones took the lead with a penetration of 72.6%, followed by feature phones which had a penetration rate of 59.6%.
The mobile money services remain central to the revenue growth of telcos in Kenya. In Safaricom’s half-year results, M-Pesa’s revenues rose 16.6% to KSh 77.2 billion in the 6 months to September driven by increased customer usage. M-Pesa agents increased to 266,070 across the country. In the latest Airtel’s financial report, mobile money in its East African units grew by 31.4%, illustrating the immense potential for growth in the sector.