- Airtel Money’s expansion has been bolstered by a concerted effort to increase the availability of its services.
- The dip in M-Pesa’s market share coincides with an overall increase in mobile money subscriptions in Kenya
Airtel Money has seen a notable increase in its market share, reaching 7.6 per cent in the three months leading up to September 2024, up from 6.6 per cent in June.
This growth is coming at the expense of its competitor, Safaricom’s M-Pesa, whose share shrank to 92.3 per cent from 93.4 per cent.
According to the latest data from the industry regulator, M-Pesa’s share is now at its lowest since the regulator began tracking market share in September 2022, when M-Pesa had a commanding 96.8 per cent share.
At that time, Airtel Money held just 3.1 per cent. Airtel Money’s continued growth in recent months is a continuation of a trend seen over the past year.
From June 2023 to June 2024, Airtel Money’s share grew from 2.8 per cent to 6.6 per cent, while M-Pesa’s share declined from 97.1 per cent to 93.4 per cent.
The dip in M-Pesa’s market share coincides with an overall increase in mobile money subscriptions in Kenya, which rose from 39.8 million in June to a record 40.6 million in September.
Mobile money penetration
This increase has brought the mobile money penetration rate in the country to 78.9 per cent.
In addition to growing its customer base, the number of registered mobile money agents also saw an increase of 5.1 per cent during the quarter, reaching 365,432 agents, up from 347,699 in the previous period.
Airtel Money’s expansion has been bolstered by a concerted effort to increase the availability of its services.
One key step was a partnership with supermarket chain Naivas in November 2023, which gave Airtel access to Naivas’ widespread network of branches, which are now used as Airtel Money agents.
Customers can now deposit and withdraw cash at Naivas branches across the country, a move designed to expand Airtel Money’s reach.
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The expansion also received a significant boost after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approved a change in mobile money transaction limits.
In 2023, the daily transaction limit was raised from Sh300,000 to Sh500,000, allowing customers to transfer larger sums.
Additionally, a policy change in February 2024 removed a restriction that required customers to withdraw funds within a week or risk having the money returned to the sender.
Airtel explained that this policy change was in line with efforts to improve mobile money interoperability, as outlined in the CBK National Payments Strategy 2022-2025.
