Kenya’s internet penetration has risen by about 19% to stand at 14.032 million users. This can be attributed to increased use of social media, competitive tariffs by mobile operators, increased demand for data services and aggressive promotional offers from telcos.
Mobile data
The mobile internet subscription category accounted for 98.9 percent of the total internet subscriptions, this being an annual growth of about 82 percent in the FY 2011/2012 up from 4.2 million subscriptions the previous year.
Fibre subscriptions reached 49,371 representing a 26.7 percent growth. Notably satelite subscriptions declined by about 37 percent, main reason being the roll out of the fibre infrastructure across the country.
See below table for internet subscriptions and users:
Internet penetration
Internet users is estimated by multiplying by 1 the number of mobile data/internet subscriptions, by 10 terrestrial wireless subscriptions and by 100 fixed DSL, fibre optic and satellite subscriptions. There is no scientific method of estimating internet users; CCK used a methodology borrowed from the Internet Market Study 2006. The multiplier of 2 for mobile data/internet users has been adjusted to 1 as per the ITU recommendations .
Operator market share
Safaricom Limited recorded the highest market share by subscription of 68.7 percent followed by Airtel Networks Kenya Limited (14.0 percent), Telkom Kenya Limited (8.8 percent) while Essar Telecom Kenya Limited had the lowest market share of 8.4 percent. Airtel gained a market share of 4.5 percentage points while Safaricom experienced the highest reduction in the market share of 2.3 percentage points. Essar gained (1.6 percentage points) while Telkom gained (0.7 percentage points)
| Name of Operator | Jun-12 | Market Share (%) | Mar-12 | Market Share (%) |
| Safaricom Limited | 5,262,307 | 68.7 | 4,552,519 | 71.0 |
| Airtel Networks Kenya Limited | 1,074,764 | 14.0 | 606,079 | 9.5 |
| Telkom Kenya Limited (Orange) | 674,255 | 8.8 | 610,142 | 9.5 |
| Essar Telecom Kenya Limited | 644,250 | 8.4 | 641,482 | 10.0 |
Broadband and Wireless subscription
In terms of market shares by other fixed/terrestrial wireless data/Internet subscriptions, Kenya Data Networks Limited11 recorded the highest market share of 28.9 percent down from 30.2 percent recorded in the previous quarter. It was closely followed by Wananchi Telecom Limited (26.7 percent), Access Kenya Limited (13.9 percent), Telkom Kenya Limited (13.1 percent) and Safaricom Limited (8.0 percent).
Data revenue
A total of KES 16.7 billion was recorded as revenue in the data/Internet market down from KES 148.0 billion recorded in the year 2010. Similarly, investments in the data/Internet market declined by 41.7 percent from KES 29.3 billion recorded in the year 2010.
These numbers are expected to increase this year as operators roll out promotions to increase data uptake.
Source: “Quarterly Sector Statistics Report, Fourth Quarter of the Financial Year 2011/2012 (April-June 2012),” Communications Commission of Kenya
