Kenyan Mobile Sector Records Growth in Revenue and Investments
Mobile revenue and investment in the ICT sector grew by 7.7 percent to generate KSh 339.4 billion and 14 percent to record KSh 58.8 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 percent 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 percent.
Safaricom recorded the highest revenue shares in voice, data, SMS, and other revenues (mobile money, roaming, advance airtime), with Jamii Telecommunications recording the least shares.
|
Operators |
Voice % |
Data % |
Others % |
SMS % |
|
Safaricom |
77.4 |
76.4 |
98.0 |
70.4 |
|
Airtel |
17.7 |
15.5 |
1.1 |
20.5 |
|
Telkom Kenya |
4.7 |
5.9 |
0.9 |
0.0 |
|
Jamii |
0.0 |
2.1 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Finserve |
0.2 |
0.2 |
9.1 |
0.0 |
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 percent to post 82.7 billion minutes, compared to 79.4 billion minutes in the previous year.
Active mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by 0.6 percent 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 percent, up from the previous 130.9 percent.
The cumulative local SMS traffic for the fiscal year grew by 18.4 percent 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 percent.
The penetration rates for feature phones and smartphones were 63.5 and 60.9 percent, respectively.