Kenyans texting more, talking less on phone

Politics and policy

CA data shows that Kenyans are talking less and texting more on their mobile phones. PHOTO | FILE 

By OKUTTAH MARK, okuttah@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• On average mobile phone subscriber called for 73.3 minutes per month in the quarter to December, down from 84.1 minutes in the same period last year and 85.6 minutes in three months to September.
• The number of short text messages (SMS) increased to 7.3 billion in the period to December, up from 6.3 billion sent in the same quarter in 2013 and 6.96 billion in three months to September.
• The average calling rates stand at Sh4 per minute and Sh1 for sending messages.

Kenyans are talking less and texting more on their mobile phones, the latest statistics by the regulator indicates.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) says in a report that on average mobile phone subscriber called for 73.3 minutes per month in the quarter to December, down from 84.1 minutes in the same period last year and 85.6 minutes in three months to September.

The number of short text messages (SMS) increased to 7.3 billion in the period to December, up from 6.3 billion sent in the same quarter in 2013 and 6.96 billion in three months to September.

“The decline in total traffic was partially contributed by on-net traffic that dropped by 7.6 per cent down from 6.9 billion minutes recorded in the last quarter to 6.4 billion minutes posted during the quarter under review,” CA said in the report.

Traffic to other mobile networks also decreased by 10 per cent to stand at 936 million during the quarter under review down from 1.0 billion minutes registered previously.

The reports also shows that majority of mobile subscribers still prefer to call within their networks, despite the calling rates to rival operators having dropped to almost the same as within network costs.

The average calling rates stand at Sh4 per minute and Sh1 for sending messages.

“The growth in SMS traffic could have been as a result of the high festive season which saw relatives and friends exchange appreciation and well wish messages,” CA said in the report.

Just like in the voice business, Safaricom maintained a tight grip on the SMS market.

Safaricom SMS market share increased to 96.4 per cent in December from 95.8 per cent in September while Airtel stake reduced to 2.6 per cent from 5.5 per cent

Orange’s volume of SMS grew to 72 million messages up from 40 million messages posted during the last quarter, earning it an 0.9 per cent stake in December, up from 0.6 per cent in September.

“This exponential growth in the number of messages sent from the Orange network was mainly contributed by on-net SMS and could be attributed to the promotion carried out by the operator which allowed users to earn bonus recharge of one Kenya Shilling for every SMS sent,” the regulator said.

The drop in consumers monthly spend on airtime comes in a period when voice prices have remained unchanged.

This is a pointer that consumers were shifting their budgets to other items given that the number of mobile phone subscribers increased to 33.6 million in December compared to 32.8 in September, pushing the mobile phone penetration to 82.6 per cent of the population, 80 per cent in the period under review.

Airtime has become a basic item just like food and utilities and it use has always comes under pressure when the cost of other basic items are on the rise.