Mobile revenue and investment in the ICT sector grew by 7.7 per cent to generate KSh 339.4 billion and 14 per cent to record KSh58.8 billion, respectively, in the year ended June 2023, the latest statistics from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) indicate.
Revenue generated by voice and data accounted for 30.8 and 26 per cent of the total revenue of the five providers: Safaricom PLC, Airtel, Telkom Kenya, Finserve, and Jamii Telecommunications, respectively.
Other revenue streams, such as mobile money and SMS, accounted for 43.2 per cent.
Safaricom recorded the highest revenue shares in voice (77.4%), data (76.4%), SMS (70.4%), and other revenues (mobile money, roaming, advance airtime) at 98.0 per cent, with Jamii Telecommunications recording the least shares (2.1% on data).
Airtel was overall second with a revenue share of 17.7 per cent in voice, 15.5 per cent (data) and 20.5 per cent in SMS while Telkom ranked a distant third with 4.7% (voice), 5.9% (data) as well as a revenue share of 0.9 per cent in mobile money, roaming and advance airtime.
Finserve Africa Limited – doing business as Equitel – had a 0.2 per cent revenue share in voice and data as well as 9.1 per cent in other revenues (mobile money, roaming, advance airtime).
Mobile voice traffic
Further, the sector employed a total of 10,526 people, with a male-to-female ratio of 57:43.
During the year, mobile voice traffic grew by 4.1 per cent to post 82.7 billion minutes, compared to 79.4 billion minutes in the previous year.
Active mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by 0.6 per cent to a record 66.4 million as of June 30, 2023, from 64.7 million in the previous year. This translated to a mobile (SIM) penetration rate of 131.3 per cent, up from the previous 130.9 per cent.
The cumulative local SMS traffic for the fiscal year grew by 18.4 per cent to stand at 52.4 billion SMS. The total number of mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks stood at 62.9 million, with a penetration rate of 124.4 per cent.
Moreover, the penetration rates for feature phones and smartphones were 63.5 and 60.9 per cent, respectively.
