Equitel to shake up mobile money market share
What you need to know:
- “The entry of MVNO’s in the mobile telephony subsector has and will continue to stir competition and growth in the sector,” said CA in its report released Monday.
- Airtel further lost over 100, 000 mobile money subscribers and an estimated 800 agents according to CA.
- Already, Equitel gained 1.9 per cent market share by March this year. Currently, Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi says that the much touted thin SIM has a market share of 4 per cent, with over a million active customers.
Safaricom faces stiff competition from mobile virtual network operators who are gaining ground on M-Pesa through increased transactions on their networks.
Statistics by Communications Authority of Kenya state that Finserve which operates Equitel had over 600, 000 subscribers active on its network by March this year.
Tangaza Pesa had over 500, 000 active users on its mobile money with over 1,500 agents spread countrywide. MobiKash on the other hand registered 1.6 million users with over 13,500 agents countrywide.
“The entry of MVNO’s in the mobile telephony subsector has and will continue to stir competition and growth in the sector,” said CA in its report released Monday.
Though Safaricom had over 20 million subscribers and gained over 400, 000, the entry of Equitel thin SIM last month is expected to heavily disrupt its transactions.
A MILLION CUSTOMERS
Already, Equitel gained 1.9 per cent market share by March this year. Currently, Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi says that the much touted thin SIM has a market share of 4 per cent, with over a million active customers.
“Equitel had 77 million transactions on its mobile money in June, transacting Sh42 billion, with a monthly growth rate of 93 per cent,” said Dr Mwangi Tuesday.
CA quarterly statistics also note increased activity on mobile money transactions with a rise in subscriptions by 3 per cent from October last year to March 2015. The number of agents also increased by 3.9 per cent to stand at 126,622 up from 121,924 agents.
As Equitel gained market share, Airtel, which hosts its network lost lost 2.4 per cent market share, recording 20 per cent. Safaricom market share also declined by 0.3 per cent points to stand at 67 per cent.
Airtel further lost over 100, 000 mobile money subscribers and an estimated 800 agents according to CA.
Airtel Kenya Corporate Affairs Director Dick Omondi said, “The loss is represented by the Yu Mobile subscribers that Airtel was waiting to take over, we got less subscribers than expected from Yu.”
