More Kenyans are opting for smartphones compared to feature phones despite the price of the gadgets.
According to Communications Authority of Kenya, penetration in smartphones increased from 54 per cent in June 2022 to 61 per cent in June this year, on the other side, penetration in feature phones dropped from 67 per cent in June 2022 to 64 per cent in June this year.
Total number of mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks stood at 62.9 million in the fourth quarter and Financial Year 2022/23, with a penetration rate of 124.4 percent. Despite the penetration improvement, the statistic shows more feature phones are in the Kenyan market compared to smartphones at 32.1 million and 30.8 million respectively.
Worldwide smartphone shipments declined 6.8 per cent year over year to 268.0 million units in the second quarter of 2023 (2Q23), according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. While this marks the eighth consecutive quarter of contraction as the market struggles with soft demand, inflation, macroeconomic uncertainties, and excess inventory, the rate of decline is slowing compared to previous quarters.
China witnessed a year-over-year decline of 2.1 per cent in second quarter of 2023 after five quarters of significant double-digit contractions. While this is better than past quarters, consumer sentiment and spending remain low.
The other large regions, including Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China), the United States, and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), also saw shipments decline by 7 per cent, 20.3 per cent, and 0.7 per cent respectively in Second Quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Study, the total local mobile voice traffic dropped to 21.4 billion minutes from 21.5 billion minutes reported in the preceding quarter. The decline is attributed to the reduction of promotions and campaigns that were offered to consumers from two (2) to one (1) promotion during the reference period. On the other hand, mobile voice traffic grew by 4.1 percent to post 82.7 billion minutes during the FY 2022/23 compared to 79.4 billion minutes reported in FY 2021/22.
During the reference period, the average minutes per on-net and off-net calls remained at 1.7 and 1.1, respectively. Airtel Networks Limited customers spent more time on a single on-net call averaging 2.7 minutes and the least time on a single off-net call averaging at 1.0 minutes.
The total number of SMS sent from local mobile networks declined to 12.4 billion from 13.7 billion messages reported in the previous quarter. This decline is attributed to resumption of school calender period during the reference period. However, the cumulative local SMS traffic for the fiscal year grew by 18.4 percent to stand at 52.4 billion SMS.
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