Airtel Money has recorded a spike in paybill registrations following the Central Bank of Kenya directive that allowed network operators to open up their e-wallet for the rival networks.
For years, mobile money in Kenya had been dominated by a single player (Safaricom), with competitors struggling to gain traction due to interoperability restrictions.
Since the opening up of the market, Airtel Money Kenya says its paybill numbers have risen to two (2) million outlets as of the end of 2024, with the platform now serving 21 million customers in Kenya.
Airtel Money Kenya Managing Director Anne Kinuthia-Otieno says suddenly, the opening up has brought ‘maturity’ in the market.
She points out that businesses and individuals who had previously been locked into a single service provider have found new reasons to explore alternatives.
“Actually what we are doing is getting out there. And now the beauty is that as we continue to grow, we are getting people coming to us saying, can we partner with you? which was not the case before,” said Kinuthia-Otieno.
Data from the regulator, the Communications Authority, shows that Airtel Money’s market share in terms of subscriptions expanded to 7.6 per cent in the three months to September 2024, up from 6.6 per cent in June.
Eating a little bit into the base of rival Safaricom’s M-Pesa, whose dominance shrunk to 92.3 per cent, down from 93.4 per cent.
This has prompted Airtel to increase investments into mobile money infrastructure across the country.
“Two years ago we had 80,000 agents in this market, and at the end of this first quarter (March 2025) we are going to have 105,000 agents in the market. We are also looking to set up exclusive stores in every county,” she said.
However, this is still low compare to the over Safaricom, which as of December 2024, had over 300,000 M-PESA agents in Kenya.
Airtel Kenya Managing Director Ashish Malhotra revealed that the company is considering rolling out between 350 and 700 additional sites, with an official announcement expected in the coming months.
“Our list of underserved locations has been shrinking each year, which means we have made significant progress. However, we still have work to do, especially in improving indoor coverage in certain urban areas,” said Malhotra.
On the push by members of parliament for Telcos to withdraw the expiry for bundles, the MD says that since the telco offers both bundles, subscribers should be left to choose.
Malhotra was speaking during the unveiling of Airtel’s non-expiry bundles.
Parliament has, in the past few months, directed the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) to stop what they had termed as “fraud” perpetuated by telcos in the country in the name of expiring data bundles.
Instead, the MPs want the communications regulator to force internet providers Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom to compensate their customers for unused bundles.
