A Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) report has shown mobile phone based transactions across all networks reached KSh425 billion ($5 billion) in the first three months of 2013, but value dropped month on month.

January contained the highest total value of transactions for the months under review totalling KSh143.7 billion ($1.7 billion).

This went down in February to KSh142.8 billion ($1.7 billion) and again in March to KSh136 billion ($1.6 billion).

The steady drop from January to March was in contrast to 2012 when they increased during the first three months of that year.

The first quarter of 2013 did witness M-Pesa’s increase in charges because of the government’s introduction of a tax on mobile money transfer.

However, despite the drop in transaction value in February and March this year, the data indicates the number of mobile money subscribers increased during the quarter.

In January subscribers totalled 21.4 million, in February the figure was at 21.8 million in February and in March it rose to 22.3 million.

Kenya ended 2012 with 21.1 million mobile money subscribers, an increase of around two million customers from the previous year’s number.