Equitel has recorded double-digit growth in both the value and number of mobile money commerce transactions as per latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya. Launched in July 2015, the Equity Bank subsidiary now accounts for close to 22% of the Sh1.919 trillion that was moved in the economy through mobile money services in the third quarter of 2018.
While subscription base as at June 2018 was 1.95 million, Equitel processed 87.9 million mobile commerce transactions between April 2018 and June 2018, up from 77.6 million transactions in the preceding quarter, representing a 13% increase. At the same time the value of mobile commerce transactions increased to Sh328.2 billion, a 13% increase from Sh290.3 billion that was processed over the same period, an indication that the company is increasingly growing the volume and value of mobile commerce transactions boosted in part by the EazzyPay paybill number that allows payments to be received from all mobile money transfer services through the interoperability feature.
At a time when mobile payments is currently at play with more and more companies fighting for a piece of the pie, Equitel accounted for 23% or Sh328 billion of the Sh1.427 trillion that was transacted in the form of mobile commerce payments. The volume of person-to-person transfers on the other hand increased by 2% to stand at Sh117 billion from Sh114.1 billion over the same period.
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Overall, the number of transactions processed stood at 140.4 million up from 128.6 million translating to a 9% increase while the value of transactions increased by 6% to stand at Sh413.4 billion from Sh389.3 billion.
