Mobile Telecommunications giant, MTN Ghana, has maintained its dominance in the Mobile Money (MoMo) industry of Ghana, commanding close to two thirds of the market share last year.
MTN Ghana disclosed in its 2021 annual report that its Active Mobile Money users increased by 3.8% to 11.0 million in 2021. Meanwhile, recent financial and economic data released by the Bank of Ghana show that at the end of December last year, there were 17.9 million active MoMo users across all networks in the country.
From the above, it means that MTN Mobile Money accounted for 61.5% of the Active Users of the MoMo platform last year. This implies that the remaining 6.9 million active MoMo accounts were shared among the rest of the telecommunications networks such as Vodafone and AirtelTigo.
At the end of December 2021, there were a total of 48.3 million registered mobile accounts, of which 17.9 million were active. The number of registered accounts increased marginally to 48.4 million at the end of January 2022. However, active accounts saw a nosedive to 17.4 million resulting in half a million decline over the end of year figure in 2021.
MTN Ghana disclosed that its Active MoMo users recovered from the challenges in the first half of 2021 to achieve a year-on-year growth of 3.8 percent last year. MTN MoMo also contributed significantly to services revenue for the company in 2021.
“We also expanded merchants (+29.9% YoY) and agents (+18.7% YoY) to support ongoing growth of the MoMo ecosystem and to further enhance financial inclusion. Growth in Mobile Money advanced service offerings such as retail merchant payments, micro loans, insurance, and international remittances supported an increase in Mobile Money revenue by 38.2% YoY to GHS1,734 million. The contribution of Mobile Money to service revenue increased from 20.9% to 22.5% YoY”.
MTN Ghana
Introduction of the E-Levy
Even before the approval was given for the introduction of the levy on electronic transactions which is scheduled to take effect in less than a week’s time (May 1, 2022), experts have already attributed the decline in active MoMo users in January this year to consumer expectations and uncertainties surrounding the proposed levy.
Though a scientific study is yet to be undertaken, many are of the view that the levy will likely impact negatively on the usage of the MoMo platform. Upon several consultations and town hall meetings, government reduced the rate from 1.75% to 1.5%. Nevertheless, this does not nullify the fact that the cost of sending money on MoMo will go up, especially as the approved levy will be borne by the sender.
To lessen the overall impact of the new levy, MTN has committed to reducing fees on Person-to-to-Person transactions by 25% upon implementation of the e-Levy. “MTN continues to engage with government and other regulatory stakeholders on the implementation of the e-Levy and working on our system readiness for implementation”, MTN Ghana stated in its report.
Meanwhile, the CEO of MTN Mobile Money Limited, Eli Hini, disclosed in a recent interview that MTN Ghana will cap its mobile money service fee at GH¢7.5 for any transfer from GH¢1,000 and beyond when the 1.5 percent electronic transfer levy is implemented. Currently, the cap is GH¢10, but MTN and other telcos have already announced a 25% decrease in transfer fees if e-levy comes on stream.
With the 1% charge on MTN MoMo transactions beyond GH¢50 currently, the implementation of the levy will mean that customers will now have to play 0.75% charge in addition to the 1.5% e-levy charge, bringing the total charge on MTN MoMo to 2.25%. It is still unclear whether Vodafone, which doesn’t charge any fees on its Vodafone Cash services currently, will also absorb part of the levy.
Nevertheless, if customers see services on the various electronic platforms as identical, allowing for smooth switch to other networks without any significant costs, then there is likely going to be a re-distribution of market shares in the MoMo industry after the introduction of the levy. With this possibility, customers will be forced to use the platform with lower charges to the detriment of other networks such as MTN.
MTN Ghana currently commands a whopping 75.18% share of the 4G market in Ghana, according to the latest telecoms market share report from the National Communications Authority (NCA). On the mobile data market, MTN again holds sway with almost 70% market share. AirtelTigo is second with 14.77%, then Vodafone comes with 13.93% and Glo with 1.57%. MTN also commands almost 60% mobile voice market share, followed by Vodafone with 19.6%, AirtelTigo with 18.3% and Glo with 1.96%.
READ ALSO: GHS To Open COVID-19 Testing Labs At Land Borders
