Home East Africa Airtel tripled daily transactions in Kenya

Airtel tripled daily transactions in Kenya

September 11, 2023

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(3 minutes read)

Airtel has more than tripled the daily transaction limits on its mobile money platform Airtel Money. Its dominant rival Safaricom received regulatory approval to effect similar changes in its operations. Airtel said customers would be allowed to deal with Sh500,000 daily up from the previous limit of Sh300,000. However, the limit per transaction was retained at Sh150,000.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), has also allowed individuals and businesses to hold half a million shillings in their mobile wallets up from the Sh300,000 allowed previously as mobile money evolves from person-to-person payments to an e-commerce tool.

Airtel Money Managing Director Anne Kinuthia hailed the move saying that increasing the daily transaction limit would benefit a wide range of customers who subscribe to the service. It can also support the growth of the digital economy in the country. The regulatory nod comes as a boost to Airtel which has recently embarked on an aggressive expansion drive. The teleservice provider had tripled its number of mobile money agents in the country and targets to close at 120,000 agents at the end of the year.

The increased mobile account limits are poised to give both Safaricom and Airtel a stronger footing to compete with commercial banks that have recently intensified their financial technology drives, mainly by providing payment solutions to customers. In the coming months the competition between the two telco players on the one hand and telcos and the banking sector is set to increase, say analysts, which can besides improving the quality of services bring down the transaction cost.