This is an exact summary from Communication Authority on the Summary of The ICT Sector Statistics Report for the Second Quarter of the Financial Year 2015/2016. Our commentary on the Statistics will follow starting tomorrow throughout next week.
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The ICT Sector Statistics Report for the Second Quarter of the Financial Year 2015/2016 provides an overview of the ICT sector performance and development trends in the following service categories:
- Mobile Telephony Service
- Fixed Telephony Service
- Internet/Data Service
- Registered Domains
- Broadcasting
- Postal and Courier Service and;
- Tariffs, Promotions and Special Offers
The mobile telephony sub-sector experienced a marginal drop in the number of mobile subscriptions during the quarter under review to post 37.7 million subscriptions down from 37.8 million recorded last quarter. The decline could be attributed to SIMbox raids which were carried out by the Authority during the quarter under review. . Consequently, mobile penetration dropped by 0.4 percentage points to stand at 87.7 percent down from 88.1 percent recorded during the previous quarter.
Pre-paid mobile subscriptions were recorded at 36.7 million down from 36.8 million subscriptions recorded during the previous quarter whereas Post-paid subscriptions were recorded at 1.0 million up from 989,889 subscriptions registered last quarter. The volume of local mobile traffic declined by 5.6 per cent to post 10.2 billion minutes down from 10.8 billion minutes posted during the previous quarter. This decrease in traffic is attributed to the reduction in mobile subscriptions recorded during the period under review.
On net traffic recorded 8.9 million minutes during the quarter down from 9.6 million minutes recorded in the previous quarter, representing a decline of 6.9 per cent. Similarly, each subscriber talked for an average of 88.9 minutes per month during the quarter down from 95.8 minutes recorded during the previous quarter. The volume of local SMS sent during the quarter stood at 8.1 billion up from 7.0 billion recorded during the previous quarter representing growth of 15.3 per cent during the quarter.
Each subscriber sent an average of 71.8 messages per month up from 61 messages recorded in the last quarter. The increase is attributed to the festive season where friends, families and loved ones exchanged well wishes and seasonal greetings. 6 During the quarter under review, the number of mobile money transfer subscriptions dropped by 3.6 per cent to register 26.7 million subscriptions down from 27.7 million subscriptions registered during the previous period. On the other hand, the number of mobile money agents grew from 135,724 agents recorded last quarter to 141,542 agents during the quarter under review.
The uptake of mobile number portability service maintained a downward trend during the quarter under review to post 234 in-ports down from 461 in-ports posted during the foregoing quarter. This decline marked a significant drop of 49.2 per cent which is attributed to the increasing number of twin SIM mobile handsets that enable use of more than one SIM card on one handset. Users are able to enjoy special offers and promotions from different service providers with the twin SIM handsets.
The fixed network service in the country has continued to dwindle especially after the decommissioning of fixed wireless network by Telkom Kenya Limited last year. During the period under review, the number of fixed line subscriptions dropped by 2.6 per cent to stand at 85,496 lines down from 87,774 lines posted during the previous period. The Internet/data market in the country has grown significantly over the years following the roll out of the National Optic Fibre Broadband Infrastructure (NOFBI) Phase 1, the ongoing roll out of Phase 2 and the increased last mile connection by private operators. The expansive roll out of Third Generation (3G) mobile communication network is also a major contributor to the increased accessibility, availability and use of internet/data services.
During the period October to December 2015, the number of internet/data subscriptions grew by 10.6 per cent to register 23. 9 million subscriptions up from 21.6 million subscriptions registered during the previous period. Subsequently, the number of estimated internet/data users stood at 35.5 million up from 31.9 million users recorded during the last quarter. This translated to an internet/data penetration level of 82.6 per cent up from 74.2 per cent recorded during the previous quarter.
Mobile data posted 23.7 million subscriptions representing an increase of 10.2 per cent from 21.5 million subscriptions recorded last quarter. The growth in mobile data/internet is attributed to the increased affordability of Internet bundles offered by the various internet/data providers as result of increased fair competition in the data/internet market. Growth of e-commerce services and social networking sites is also a factor leading to increased internet/data usage.
The use of utility services such as online mobile banking, online research on mobile devices by most Kenyans has also fuelled the uptake of internet/data services. During the period under review, the number of broadband subscriptions increased substantially by 13.9 per cent to reach 7.2 million subscriptions up from 6.3 million subscriptions registered in the previous quarter. Subsequently, the level of broadband penetration stood at 16.8 per cent during the quarter under review with mobile broadband contributing 87.6 per cent. International bandwidth available in the country recorded a marginal growth of 0.1 per cent to stand at 1.55 million Mbps up from 1.54 million Mbps recorded during the last quarter. 7 Bandwidth utilisation represented 55.1 per cent of the total capacity up from 51.1 per cent recorded during the previous quarter.
The number of domain names as registered by KENIC grew significantly by 11.1 per cent by the end of the period under review to stand at 51,548 up from 46,411 recorded in the previous quarter. The number of free to Air TV stations on digital terrestrial platform grew slightly from 55 to stand at 62 stations at the end of the quarter under review. On the other hand, the total number of Radio FM stations grew from 137 recorded in the last quarter to 139 during the quarter under review. In the postal and courier sub-sector, the number of letters sent locally experienced a substantial growth of 35.6 per cent to reach 17.6 million during the quarter up from 12.9 million letters sent during the preceding quarter. Courier items sent too increased remarkably by 46.1 per cent to stand at 445,836 during the quarter up from 305,248 items sent during the previous quarter.
The remarkable growth in traffic for local letters and courier items sent is attributed to the festive season which is usually marked by intense exchange of greeting cards and gifts between relatives and friends. K.C.P.E and K.C.S.E exams were also undertaken during the same period and therefore posting of success cards by relatives and friends contributed to the growth in traffic for letters and courier items sent locally.
Letters received from other countries were recorded at 2.2 million down from 2.4 million letters received during the last quarter, marking a drop of 6.5 per cent. On the contrary, letters sent to other countries increased tremendously by 93.5 per cent to stand at 2.66 million letters up from 1.37 million letters sent during the last quarter. This is attributed to the busy festive season during which relatives and friends from all over the world exchanged seasonal greetings cards. The number of tariffs and promotions filed for data services remained highest as a result of continued roll-out of internet services by operators; increased uptake of data/internet services by consumers; proliferation of smart devices; and the availability of low-cost data/internet devices in the market.
