An upward trend has been noticed in the use of the Equitel mobile transfer platform with the volume of mobile commerce transactions that were processed growing by 21 per cent in the first three months of this year. This contributed to the growth of EazzyPay mobile money payment service, which saw its usage increase by 10 per cent over the same period.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya’s (CAK) for the period running January to March 2017 shows that Equitel processed 37.38 million transactions worth Ksh189 billion up from 30 million transactions valued at Ksh171 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
Overall Equitel accounted for 30 per cent or Ksh189 billion of the Ksh627 billion that was transacted in the form of mobile commerce payments.
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Equitel has targeted to register not less than one million businesses through its EazzyPay service within the next two years, a key strategic pillar for Equity Bank’s digital banking strategy that was launched in late 2016.
Additionally, there were gains in the subscription base which stood at 1.7 million subscribers as at the end of March 2017, up from 1.49 million subscribers as at December last year, translating to a 15.4 per cent increase. Even though, the increase in subscriptions did not translate to an increase in the volume of voice and data which instead declined as compared to the previous quarter.
Equitel, which was launched in July 2015, now accounts for 23 per cent of the Ksh1.1. trillion that was moved in the economy through mobile money services in the third quarter.
EazzyPay merchants are also able to receive payments from all other channels such as Mpesa, Airtel money and Pesalink.
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