Kenya’s telecommunications sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of the financial year 2024/2025, with increased broadband subscriptions, mobile SIM, smartphone use, and mobile money, indicating continued industry responsiveness to customer needs.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)’s quarterly Sector Statistics report covering July-September 2024, released on January 24, 2025, shows a slight decline in 3G broadband subscriptions and data consumption, but an increase in 4G and 5G technology adoption.
“The country is poised for significant advancements in both 4G and 5G uptake which is driven by the continued investments and increased consumer demand for high-speed connectivity,” reads part of the report.
What is the mobile data subscription in Kenya?
Mobile data subscriptions grew to a record 53.7 million by the end of the quarter, with 4G constituting 58.1 per cent. The adoption of 4G and 5G technologies has continued to grow, mainly driven by the growing demand for high-speed Internet for activities such as streaming, online learning, remote work, and e-commerce.
The number of active mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by 1.6 per cent to 70.0 million by the end of September 2024 from 68.9 million recorded in the previous quarter representing a penetration rate of 135.8 per cent Subscriptions to mobile money services increased from 39.8 million to 40.6 million, translating to a penetration rate of 78.9 per cent during the reference period.
The total number of mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks was 68.1 million, representing a penetration rate of 131.5 per cent. At 37.4 million devices, smartphones take the lead with a penetration rate of 72.6 per cent, while the 30.7 million feature phones account for a 59.6 per cent penetration rate.
Why did Kenya’s outgoing domestic voice traffic grow in 2024?
The volume of outgoing domestic voice traffic grew by 5.5 per cent from 24.9 billion to 26.2 billion.
“This growth is attributed to service providers’ special offers and promotions during the review period, where consumers could pay as low as KES 20 for 10 minutes of all-net calls, 20 SMS, and 50 MB of data. Similarly, domestic SMS traffic grew to 13.7 billion messages, from 13.5 billion reported last quarter,” the report noted.
The total average minutes per on-net call remained unchanged at 1.8 minutes, whereas off-net calls grew to 1.3 minutes from 1.2 minutes recorded last quarter. Airtel Networks Limited customers spent more time on a single on-net call, averaging 2.8 minutes, whereas Safaricom PLC and Jamii Telecommunications Ltd consumers spent more time on off-net calls, averaging 1.4 minutes.
Incoming international mobile voice minutes grew by 11.9 per cent to 134.2 million during the reference period. On the other hand, outgoing international mobile voice traffic dropped from 175.7 million to 175.3 million. International incoming mobile SMS rose to 8.4 million whereas outgoing mobile SMS declined to post 2.6 million.
The total data/Internet subscriptions rose by 4.9 per cent to 1.57 million from 1.50 million recorded as of June 30th, 2024.
Satellite Internet subscriptions recorded a significant increase of 104.7 per cent during the reference period, attributed to a customer acquisition campaign run by Starlink Internet Services Kenya that introduced an option to rent satellite equipment at a reduced cost.
Market share in subscriptions for mobile services in Kenya
In terms of market share in subscriptions for mobile services, Safaricom PLC leads in mobile (SIM) subscriptions with 65.7 per cent, followed by Airtel Network Kenya Limited with 29.6 per cent, Finserve (Equitel) Ltd has 2.1 per cent while Telkom Kenya has 1.7 per cent.
In mobile broadband subscriptions, Safaricom PLC has a 63.1 per cent market share, followed by Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd at 32.6 per cent. Telkom Kenya has 1.7 per cent, Finserve (Equitel) Ltd 1.6 per cent while Jamii Telecommunications Ltd has one (1) per cent.
Safaricom PLC has a 92.3 per cent market share in mobile money services, followed by Airtel Money at 7.6 per cent, while T-Kash has less than one (1) per cent.
The total available/lit international Internet bandwidth capacity in the country increased from 22,154.438 Gbps recorded in the previous quarter to 24,195.320 Gbps. Further, utilized undersea bandwidth rose by 1.1 per cent to 15,287.222 Gbps out of which 12,333.402 Gbps was used in the country and 2,953.820 Gbps transited to other countries. Utilized satellite Internet capacity grew significantly by 152.8 per cent to reach 2,124.438 Gbps.
The total number of users registered to .KE domains dropped by 0.1 per cent to 106,722. During the quarter, total cyber threat events detected by the National KE-CIRT/CC stood at 657.8 million with 9.6 million advisories issued during the period.
