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Kenyans Sent 18.8 billion SMSs Between July and September

BY David Indeje · December 29, 2017 09:12 am

Kenya recorded a marginal increase in voice and SMS traffic between July and September according to the latest sector statistics by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).

During the first quarter, Kenyans made calls totaling to 11 billion minutes compared to 10 billion minutes recorded in the previous period while the amount of SMSs sent within each network grew 27 percent to stand at 18.8 billion.

“The increase in mobile voice and SMS traffic is attributed to the electioneering period during which these services were used as campaign tools by various politicians to reach out to the people,” said the CA. “A similar trend might be expected for the period October-December due to the October, 26th, 2017 repeat election.”

During the period,  Safaricom Limited recorded a total of 18.7 billion messages originating from its network. The on-net and off-net messages were reported at 18.5 billion and 169.9 million respectively. Its SMS market share stood at 97.0 per cent up from 95.9 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.

The volume of messages sent from Airtel Networks Limited network was 495.2 million messages down from 543.2 million recorded in the previous quarter. Consequently, its SMS market share dropped to 2.6 per cent during the period under review from 3.6 per cent recorded last quarter.

Telkom Kenya Limited reported a total of 66.7 million messages sent on its network during the period under review down from 68.1 million messages recorded in the previous quarter. It’s SMS market share declined by 0.1 percentage points to stand at 0.3 per cent.

According to the report covering July to September 2017, mobile money transaction volumes increased with 28.2 million mobile money subscribers who increased 0.4 percent, total transactions grew 36.2 percent, from Ksh 1.2 trillion recorded last year to Ksh 1.7 trillion representing a 54.5 per cent increase from a similar period last year.

“Mobile money transfer services exhibited an upward trend during the quarter under review compared to the previous quarter despite the prolonged electioneering period which slowed down business activities in most sectors,” Part of the CA. report reads.

M-Pesa services posted a market share of 80.8 per cent during the quarter under review. Equitel Money posted a market share of 6.8 per cent while Mobikash stood at 6.3 per cent. Airtel Money and Mobile Pay Limited attained 5.8 and 0.3 per cent market shares respectively.

Mobile data subscriptions also grew 4.3 percent to reach 30.9 million. According to CA, the internet penetration rate grew 12.5 percent from 100.1 percent to 112.7 percent, while broadband penetration now stands at 38.8 percent, a 13.5 percent increase.

David Indeje is a writer and editor, with interests on how technology is changing journalism, government, Health, and Gender Development stories are his passion. Follow on Twitter @David_Indeje David can be reached on: (020) 528 0222 / Email: info@sokodirectory.com

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