Kenyan mobile subscriber numbers dip

The decline, according to the report, was mainly attributed to the de-activation of 2.4million unregistered SIM cards during the quarter.But in Nigeria, deactivation of unregistered SIM cards did not affect the subscribers’ number as pressures from right groups and operators forced the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to give another opportunity for deactivated subscribers to be […]

The decline, according to the report, was mainly attributed to the de-activation of 2.4million unregistered SIM cards during the quarter.
But in Nigeria, deactivation of unregistered SIM cards did not affect the subscribers’ number as pressures from right groups and operators forced the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to give another opportunity for deactivated subscribers to be registered.
The Kenya’s decrease in mobile subscription resulted in a decline in mobile penetration from 78% in the previous quarter to 75.8% in the period under review. Similarly, the total mobile traffic declined by 1.2 per cent to stand at 7.2billion minutes down from 7.3billion recorded in the previous quarter, according to the report.
Uptake of mobile money expanded with subscriptions increasing by 10.1 per cent to reach 23.2million. This growth is attributed to the convenience as well as the value-added services of facilitating payments for goods and services. The number of mobile money transfer agents rose to 74,216 up from 62,300 reported in the previous quarter creating at least 11,916 additional direct jobs in mobile money transfer service during the third quarter.
During the same period, the internet/data market grew to reach 9.6 million subscriptions. Mobile data/internet subscriptions continued to dominate the market contributing 99% of the total subscriptions. During the quarter, the number of active registered domain names increased by 3.1% to reach 25,764 from 24,983 recorded in the previous quarter.
Broadband subscriptions grew by 17.5% to reach 1.17 million while international internet bandwidth available in the country increased to 921,319 Mbps. The implementation of the National Broadband Strategy launched recently is expected to accelerate the uptake of broadband in the country.