By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
In Summary
- The number of internet subscriptions grew by 1.3 per cent by March 2014 to reach 13.3 million subscriptions, up from 13.1 million recorded in December last year.
- The report put the subscriber average minutes of talk at 80.3 minutes per month, compared to 84.1 minutes registered in December last year.
Kenyans are chatting more online and talking less to
each other on mobile phones, the latest report by the Communications
Authority of Kenya (CAK) indicates. The report also indicates that with
more internet use, Kenyans are sending less SMS.
The number of internet subscriptions grew by 1.3 per cent by
March 2014 to reach 13.3 million subscriptions, up from 13.1 million
recorded in December last year. “The number of estimated internet users
increased by 1.9 per cent to reach 21.6 million compared to 21.2 million
estimated during the last quarter,” read the report.
Broadband subscriptions also increased from 1.43
million last year to 1.44 million according to the authority’s report.
In general, mobile subscriptions are still on the rise, with a record
31.8 million by March 2014 despite a decline in calls made.
“Despite the growth in mobile subscriptions, there
was a recorded decline in local mobile voice traffic of 2.7 per cent to
post 7.6 billion minutes, down from 7.8 billion minutes recorded during
the previous quarter,” read CAK’s report of January to March 2014.
The report put the subscriber average minutes of
talk at 80.3 minutes per month, compared to 84.1 minutes registered in
December last year. “SMS traffic declined by 1.0 per cent to reach 6.22
billion down from 6.28 billion messages sent during the preceding
quarter.”
The statistics published at the authority’s website
depicted a rise in the mobile money transfer to a record 26.2 million
subscriptions from 26.0 million posted in the previous quarter. “The
number of money transfer agents increased by 10.6 per cent to stand at
103,660 agents,” read the report.
This even as the Competition Authority of Kenya
last week declined to order a cut on fees charged for making mobile
phone money transfers across different networks in a case filed by
Airtel against rival firm Safaricom.
In the calls per service provider captured in the
report, Telkom (Orange) was the only company that showed an increase by
0.5 per cent in minutes of talk time compared to December last year with
234 minutes compared to 208. Safaricom went down from 6.1 billion
minutes to 6.0 billion minutes thou the company increased its market
share by 0.3 per cent.
Airtel Networks Limited lost 0.4 percentage shares
to reach 10.9 per cent equivalent to 835 million minutes during the
quarter down from 892 million minutes posted during the last quarter.
Essar Telecom Limited recorded a 0.3 percentage
drop to post 7.6 per cent shares corresponding to 583 million minutes in
December last year.
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