Mobile users in Kenya inching closer to 30 million, says Regulator

Kenya’s communications regulator, the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), has released its second quarter report on the country’s mobile and Internet sector. The CCK has said that the country is inching closer to 30 million mobile subscription. The number currently stands at 29.2 million, an increase witnessed between January and March this year. In a population of over 40 million citizens, the statistics are welcome news to the telecom operators and the ICT industry. Of major note is that Safaricom and Airtel saw much less growth during the quarter growing by a mere 2.1 and 4.9 percent respectively. Essar’s Yu Mobile jumped by 16 percent to record 2.5 million subscribers. The growth by Yu Mobile has been pointed to its strategy of targeting the youth, which according to the company has responded well. Last year, the operator only recorded over 1.5 million subscribers. This marks a 61 percent leap from March last year. CCK reports that mobile penetration is now at 75 percent. This puts Kenya as one of Africa’s front-runners when it comes to mobile subscription. “Total local mobile traffic increased by 1.6 percent from the previous quarter to record 6.8 billion minutes during the quarter under review,” CCK said. Safaricom seems to have enjoyed most of this increase as it projected 77 percent dominance on voice calls. This is because, in spite going flat on its market share growth, it still remains the Kenya’s mobile industry giant. Kenya’s communications regulator, the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), has released its second quarter report on the country’s mobile and Internet sector.  The CCK has said that the country is inching closer to 30 million mobile subscription. The number currently stands at 29.2 million, an increase witnessed between January and March this year.In a population of over 40 million citizens, the statistics are welcome news to the telecom operators and the ICT industry.