Data released by the Communications Authority of Kenya shows that mobile
phone users sent a total of 24.4 billion short messages in the year
through June, up from 13.2 billion texts the previous year. FILE PHOTO
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NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenyans are talking less and sending more text messages on their mobile phones, new industry statistics show.
Data
released by the Communications Authority of Kenya on Thursday shows
that mobile phone users sent a total of 24.4 billion short messages in
the year through June, up from 13.2 billion texts the previous year,
representing an 85 per cent increase.
In the three months to June alone, 6.8 billion text messages were sent, a 10 per cent rise from the previous quarter.
Time
spent talking on phone declined by four per cent to 7.3 billion minutes
compared to 7.6 billion minutes in the last quarter.
“The growth in short messages could be attributed to the bundle SMS promotions by service providers,” CA said in a statement.
Mobile subscriptions in the quarter went up by 5.6 per cent to reach 32.2 million.
The
spread of instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Viber and
Facebook Messenger have also had a significant impact on voice calls.
There was a drop in roaming traffic that could be attributed to high calling rates in East Africa.
In
the three months under review, the estimated number of Internet users
increased by three per cent to 22.3 million compared to 21.6 million
users the previous period.
The number of Kenyans accessing Internet using mobile devices went up by five per cent to 13.9 million.
CA expects that the upward trend in the data market is likely to continue as mobile firms continue expanding their networks.
The postal and courier sector continued on a downward trend as the number of letters sent locally declined by a third.
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