The Communication Authority of Kenya released the Q1 2016 statistics report for the period between July and September 2015 on the mobile telephony sector. The report details among other things mobile money statistics, internet penetration as well as data on market share of all the telcos. It also offers insight on courier services and postal services.
Under the period, Kenya’s internet penetration rose by 11% to stand at 82.6% of the entire population. The number of internet users grew to 35.5 Million users from 31.9 Million users in the last quarter. The total internet user figures represent the total number for mobile subs, fixed, satellite among other offerings. It is important to note the figure given for internet users relies on the methodology provided by the ITU. This of course means there are chances of double counting in this data.
The number of internet subscriptions in the quarter stood at 23.9 million up from 21.1 million users. Mobile data subscriptions grew by 10.2% to 23.7 Million subscribers from 21.5 Million in the last quarter. In the mobile internet space, Safaricom maintained its top position with 63% market share, a figure that remained unchanged from the previous quarter. Airtel Kenya had an 18% market share an increase of 0.5% while Orange followed with 14%, a 0.6% increase from 13.4%. Equitel had 5% market share.
The growth in mobile internet is attributable to the affordability of mobile data bundles provided by various internet service providers. Growth of e-commerce services is also a factor leading to the increased internet usage. Social networking sites and over-the-top services such as Whatsapp, which most Kenyan internet users access through mobile devices were partly responsible for the growth. Kenyans have also used the internet for utility services such as reading news online, online banking services as well as doing research online on their cellular devices hence fueling the uptake.
