Mobile subscriptions in Kenya increased by 6.0 per cent to 65.1 million in 2021, however, at a slower rate compared to the 12.6 per cent growth registered in 2020.
According to the 2022 Economics survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, mobile money subscribers rose by 8.5 per cent to 35.2 million over the same period.
In addition, phone numbers ported decreased by 24.8 per cent over the same period from 1,437 to 1,081 partly attributed to hesitation by subscribers to move from one operator to another.
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is a service that enables users to change or ‘port’ operators while retaining their numbers.
Over the same period, the value of digital commerce transactions grew by 63.2 per cent from 9,392 trillion to kes 15.3 trillion in the same period. The number of total transactions recorded a 16 per cent jump to 2,165 million.
The number of money deposited through agents rose by 44 per cent from 3,231 billion to 4, 666 billion while the transfer from subscriber to subscriber rose by 30 per cent from 3, 234 billion to 4,191 billion.
Mobile money transfer agents rose from 264,390 to 292,301 and phone money transfer service subscribers rose from 32 million to 35 million.
Read also; Showmax slashes mobile subscription in Kenya by 20%.
