Africa processed about US$1.4 trillion in mobile money transactions in 2025, a 27% increase on the previous year, according to the GSMA’s 2026 State of the Industry report. The continent accounted for 66% of global mobile money transaction value, reinforcing how central phone-based financial services have become to everyday payments.

The same report counted 1.2 billion registered mobile money accounts in Africa, up 18%, and 347 million accounts active in a 30-day period, up 19%. Those figures are not interchangeable: registered accounts can include dormant or multiple accounts, while monthly active accounts provide a closer measure of regular use. The industry processed 92 billion transactions in the region during the year. (GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026)

Payments are moving beyond person-to-person transfers

One shift is the growth of payments to merchants. Globally, mobile money merchant payments rose 42% to US$155 billion in 2025, the fastest-growing use case in the GSMA report. East Africa accounted for three-quarters of that growth. Mobile wallets are increasingly used not only to send money to family, but to pay businesses and settle everyday purchases.

That transition matters because a payment network becomes more useful when customers can spend from it as well as send and withdraw funds. For merchants, accepting wallet payments can add another way to collect money, although fees, settlement speed, consumer protection and interoperability still shape whether it is convenient.

Scale does not mean every account is active

The headline transaction value can make mobile money look universally adopted, but activity is uneven. Africa’s 347 million monthly active accounts are substantial, yet still far below the registered-account total. The GSMA relies on a mix of survey data and estimates, so the figures describe an industry-wide pattern rather than a precise count of unique people.

The next phase is less about proving that mobile money can move large sums and more about making it dependable and useful across daily commerce, bills and transfers. Growth in merchant payments points in that direction, while active use remains the metric to watch.