The rapid uptake of mobile money transfer and banking has been attributed to the continued demand of the service’s ability to address banking issues. More particularly, low income earners who do not have access to banking services have been in the frontline in the growth of the service, offered by the four mobile phone operators in Kenya.
In a report by Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) , during the 2nd quarter October-December 2011/2012, an increase of 3.08 per cent subscriptions in mobile money transfer was recorded from 18.4 million in the previous period to 18.9 million. Compared to the same period of the 2010/2011, an increase of 42.13 per cent in mobile money subscriptions was registered. Moreover, the number of mobile money transfer subscriptions represents 70.35 per cent of the total mobile subscriptions.
At the same time, the number of mobile money agents grew by 6.84 per cent during the period, from 44,922 during the previous period to 47,997during the period under review. Compared to the same period of the previous year, a growth of 34.51 per cent was recorded. The table is a summery of mobile money transfers.
The report says the total deposits made during the period under review were recorded as KSh176 billion, representing an average of KSh58 billion deposits made per month. This is against KSh117 billion deposits made during the previous reporting period, representing an increase of 50.67 per cent during the period under review and 54.94 per cent increase compared to the same period of the previous year.