With 63% of Kenya's mobile users opting for Safaricom Plc, the country's top network provider, this telecom company maintained its market dominance. Artel was the next-largest provider with 17.6 million members, Telkom was second with 3.06 million, and Equitel was third with 1.52 million.
Owing to the increasing number of telecoms entering the Kenyan market, Safaricom has been losing users, and over the last three years, Airtel has increased its market share by about 3%. This trend promises to continue with the entry of a new player, Starlink.
The total outbound domestic mobile voice traffic increased by 10.1% during the period under review compared to the first three months of the fiscal year, as more calls were made on mobile phones. Calls totaling 20.8 billion minutes were made as opposed to 18.9 billion minutes in the preceding quarter
The expansion is attributable to the numerous audio promos and limited-time deals made available by market participants during the time, as well as the extended school breaks and the Christmas season. A single on-net call lasted longer for customers on Airtel Networks, lasting an average of 2.8 minutes.
As a result of the cheaper calling rates provided by the operators, Telkom Kenya Ltd. and Equitel subscribers recorded the greatest average minutes of use per off-net call, at 1.3.
The reference period saw an increase in subscribers for mobile money services from the previous quarter's 37.4 million to 38.6 million, reflecting a 78.2% penetration rate.
During the reference period, international outgoing mobile voice traffic increased by 4.6% while international incoming mobile voice traffic decreased by 3.4%. International mobile SMS volume fell from 8.6 million to 4.7 million messages, a decrease of 5.6% and 6.1%, respectively for incoming and outgoing SMS.
During the reference period, there were 47.7 million mobile data or Internet subscribers overall, of which 66.8% were on mobile broadband.
Safaricom had the biggest market share for fixed data subscriptions during the quarter under review with 46.1%, followed by Wananchi Group with 31.1%. Other companies include Poa Internet (14.9%), Liquid (2.2%), and Mawingu (1.8%).
The total amount of undersea bandwidth that was used increased by 5.5% to 6,467.36 Gbps, of which 4,361.54 Gbps was used domestically and 2,105.82 Gbps was sold abroad.
