Safaricom Limited has extended its market share in the Kenya’s telecommunication industry in the second quarter of the Financial Year 2016/2017, according to the ICT Sector Quarterly Statistics Report released on Monday.
Safaricom recorded the highest number of mobile subscriptions as of December 2016, gaining by 2.2 per cent to stand at 71.2 per cent compared to 69.0 per cent posted in the previous quarter. The biggest loser was Equitel which shed 2.1 per centage points to stand at 3.8 per cent.
Airtel on the other hand gained 0.1 per cent in market share to 17.6 per cent while Telkom Kenya lost 0.2 per cent to reach 7.4 per cent market share from last quarter’s performance of 7.6 per cent.
The authority attributed Equitel’s decline in market share to “the revision of data by the service provider during the quarter under review.”
Overall, mobile subscription over the period under review grew by 1 per cent to 38.9 million active mobile subscriptions up from 38.5 million subscriptions recorded during the previous quarter.
“When compared to the same period of the previous financial year, there is an increase of 1.2 million subscriptions. Subsequently, mobile penetration level grew by 0.9 per centage points during the period under review to stand at 88.2 per cent up from 87.3 per cent recorded last quarter.” ICT authority noted in the report.
Safaricom’s total number of subscriptions grew by 4.2 per cent to stand at 27.7 million from 26.6 million subscriptions in the previous quarter. Airtel’s total mobile subscriptions increased by 1.2 ppe cent to 6.8 million subscriptions.
On the flip side, Telkom Kenya subscriptions declined to 2.8 million down from 2.9 million subscriptions reported during the previous quarter. While Equitel recorded a decline of 34.5 per cent to 1.4 million mobile subscriptions down from 2.2 million subscriptions posted in the previous quarter.
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Source; Communications Authority of Kenya Report