Kenya’s total mobile subscription has hit 65.7 million according to a report by the Communications Authority of Kenya that provides the performance and trends in the ICT sector for the period 1st October to 31st December 2022.
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya Second Quarter Sector Statistics Report for the 2022/23 Financial Year, the number of mobile subscriptions increased from 65.5 million reported last quarter to 65.7 Million during the reference period, representing a penetration rate of 133.1 %.
The report also notes increased mobile Data and Broadband Subscriptions which stood at 47.7 million, out of which 66.8 percent were on mobile broadband. The report attributes the increased data usage to Internet users who have embraced higher mobile network generations such as 4G that offer faster Internet speeds that enhance customer experience.
During the period under review, the uptake of mobile money services remained steady recording 38.6 million subscriptions up from 37.4 million recorded during the previous period, representing a penetration rate of 78.2 percent. While the number of registered Mobile Money Agents increased to 318,607 from 307,928 representing 3.5 percent increase.
The report indicates improvement on penetration of Feature Phones which increased by 68 percent from 66.6 percent, while that of Smart Phones registered 60.2 percent up from 54.3 recorded in the previous quarter. As at 31st December 2022, the total mobile phone devices stood at 63.3 million. Out of which 53.1 percent were feature phones while 46.9 percent were smartphones.
This trend indicates an increasing demand and uptake of smartphones mainly driven by demand for broadband enabled services and accessibility to the device.
On market share in domestic mobile voice and SMS traffic, Safaricom dominates the market for mobile voice and sms with 65 percent voice traffic and 89.2 percent sms traffic followed closely by Airtel which commands 32.2 percent of voice calls and 10.4 percent domestic sms traffic.
The report further notes an increase of outgoing domestic mobile voice traffic (Minutes) which increased by 10.1 percent to post 20.8 billion minutes from 18.9 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
The growth is attributed to the various voice promotions and special offers launched by the market players during the period coupled with long school holidays and the festive season.
The Minutes of Use per Month per Subscription also increased from 96.4 recorded in the first quarter to 105.7 minutes during the reference period. Conversely, short messages sent per month per subscription declined from 72.4 to 61.4 messages.
Customers on Airtel Networks spent more time on a single on-net call averaging 2.8 minutes compared to Safaricoms 1.5 minutes. Further, Telkom Kenya Ltd and Equitel customers recorded the highest average Minutes of Use per off net call at 1.3, mainly attributed to the lower calling rates offered by the operators.
On International voice calls, International incoming mobile voice traffic declined by 3.4 percent whereas international outgoing mobile voice traffic rose by 4.6 percent during the reference period. International incoming and outgoing mobile SMS declined by 5.6 and 6.1 percent to 8.6 million and 4.7 million messages respectively. This is mainly as a result of increased preference for OTT channels such as Whatsapp and availability of lucrative special offers and promotions for data bundles that facilitate access to OTTs.
The report observes that roaming traffic both in-bound and outbound traffic from Tanzania and Burundi remained low, which is attributed to the fact that the two countries are yet to join the One Network Area initiative in the region.