Number of mobile users drop to 29.8m

 

  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By NATION CORRESPONDENT

 

In Summary

• Aside from decline in subscriptions, mobile traffic declined by 1.2 per cent to 7.2 billion minutes from 7.3 billion recorded in the previous quarter.

Mobile phone subscriptions has fallen for the first time since the services were launched two decades ago.

The drop is mainly attributed to a government drive to switch off unregistered SIM cards.

The disconnection of 2.4 million unregistered SIM Cards earlier this year saw the number of mobile subscriptions fall from 30.7 million in December 2012 to 29.8 million in March 2013.

According to a Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) quarterly report released yesterday, the move also led to a decline in the mobile penetration from the 78 per cent reported in the previous quarter to 75.8 per cent in the period under review.

“The decline in mobile tele-density was triggered by the decline in mobile subscriptions during the period, consequently reducing mobile penetration in the country,” reads the report in part.

Safaricom lost the most subscribers with 392,895 of its SIM cards switched off.

However, Telkom Kenya probably felt the impact of the SIM Card switch-off drive the most with 14.4 per cent or 356,971 SIM cards being shut. Airtel lost 153,210 unregistered subscriptions.

Essar Telecom (YuMobile) was the only operator to gain subscriptions despite the switch-off. The company gained 20,658 subscriptions thereby growing its customer base by 0.6 per cent.

Rise of crime

Aside from decline in subscriptions, mobile traffic declined by 1.2 per cent to 7.2 billion minutes from 7.3 billion recorded in the previous quarter.

The SIM card switch off was in compliance with new industry regulations requiring all service providers to maintain an updated record of its customers.

t was aimed at curbing the rise of crime using mobile phones.

Despite the loss resulting from the SIM card switch off, mobile money subscriptions increased by 10.1 per cent to 23.2 million up from 21.1 million in the previous quarter.

In comparison to a similar period last year, this was a growth of 22.6 per cent.

The mobile money transfer sector also created 11, 916 jobs as the number of active agents rose by 19.1per cent from 62,300 recorded during the previous quarter to 74,216 agents during the period under review.

During the same period, the data market grew to reach 9.6million subscriptions. Mobile data subscriptions contributed to 99 per cent of the total subscriptions.

During the quarter, the number of active registered domain names increased by 3.1 per cent to reach 25,764 from 24,983 recorded in the previous quarter.

“Broadband subscriptions grew by 17.5 per cent to reach 1.17million while international internet bandwidth available in the country increased to 921,319 Mbps,” the report stated.