M-Pesa shops /FILE The growing adoption of till and paybill numbers is reducing the number of registered money agents, according to the latest data from the Communications Authority.
The regulator says Kenya’s mobile money market continued to expand in the year to June 2026 despite fewer registered agents, pointing to a growing shift toward digital access to financial services.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows mobile money subscriptions rose by 13.2 per cent during the 2025/26 financial year to 54 million by June 30, 2026. The figure translated to a mobile money penetration rate of 101.3 per cent.
However, the number of registered mobile money agents fell by 5.6 per cent between March and June, dropping from 602,470 to 568,463.
The contrasting trends highlight changes in the way consumers access mobile financial services, with the customer base expanding even as the physical agent network contracts.
“Mobile money subscriptions stood at 53.37 million at the end of March before rising to 54.01 million three months later. Over the same period, the agent network reduced by about 34,000 outlets,”
The development comes as mobile services increasingly become central to payments and other digital transactions in Kenya.
The growth in mobile money is taking place alongside wider expansion in mobile connectivity.
Total mobile subscriptions increased to 88 million by June, representing a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year and pushing mobile penetration to 165 percent.
The CA said the increase in mobile subscriptions was partly linked to customer win-back campaigns by mobile network operators.
The expansion of smartphones and mobile data is also changing how Kenyans interact with digital services.
Smartphone connections reached 52.26 million by June, up from 50.18 million in March, while feature-phone connections fell to 27.42 million from 28.53 million.
At the same time, mobile data subscriptions climbed to 64.26 million, with mobile broadband subscriptions reaching 54.93 million.
The CA report shows that mobile broadband consumption continued to rise on 4G and 5G networks, while consumption on 3G networks declined as users increasingly moved towards faster connections.
The shift towards digital channels could have implications for businesses operating within Kenya’s mobile financial services ecosystem, including mobile network operators, fintech companies and agents.
Agents have traditionally provided a physical point where customers can deposit or withdraw cash, transfer money and access other services.
A reduction in their numbers, occurring alongside rising subscriptions, suggests the industry is serving a larger digital customer base with fewer registered physical outlets.
“The market remains highly concentrated. By June, Safaricom controlled 88.8 per cent of mobile money subscriptions, while Airtel held 11.1 per cent, according to the CA. Safaricom also held 69.8 per cent of total mobile subscriptions and 64.4 per cent of mobile broadband subscriptions,” the CA data shows.
The changing structure of the market is also reflected in broader communication patterns.
Domestic mobile voice traffic increased by 13.6 percent during the financial year to 126.7 billion minutes, while SMS traffic declined slightly to 57.1 billion messages. The CA attributed the fall in SMS partly to increased use of over-the-top messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.
For mobile money providers, the continued growth in subscriptions provides a larger customer base for digital payments and related services.
But the fall in agents puts greater focus on how operators will balance physical cash access with the rapid expansion of digital transactions.
