SMSs overtook phone calls during Covid curbs - report

Kenyans texted more and reduced calls in the three months to June during the Covid-19 lockdown. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By ELIZABETH KIVUVA
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Summary

• Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data shows that the number of short text messages (SMSs) in the quarter rose 19.5 per cent to 20.09 billion compared to 16.81 billion sent in the three months to March.
• Voice traffic fell 0.9 per cent to 15.2 billion minutes in the period under review, coinciding with the expiry of airtime discounts offered by telcos.
• The CA says the expiry of calling promotions in May drove the dip in voice traffic as Kenyans turned to SMSs that are cheaper amid the economic hardships.

Kenyans texted more and reduced calls in the three months to June during the Covid-19 lockdown as economic hardships brought by the pandemic forced consumers to focus on essential spending.

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data shows that the number of short text messages (SMSs) in the quarter rose 19.5 per cent to 20.09 billion compared to 16.81 billion sent in the three months to March.

Voice traffic fell 0.9 per cent to 15.2 billion minutes in the period under review, coinciding with the expiry of airtime discounts offered by telcos.

The CA says the expiry of calling promotions in May drove the dip in voice traffic as Kenyans turned to SMSs that are cheaper amid the economic hardships.

The rise in use of SMS came at a time the government imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus in March, leading to layoffs, salary cuts and unpaid leave days that hurt the spending power of households and individuals.

“The growth is as a result of attractive SMS bundles promotion/tariffs offered by the operators during the period under review,” the CA says in the report.

“In addition, it is worth noting that SMS communication is popular among the young population who have been actively at home following prolonged closure of educational institutions in response to Covid-19 safety measures.”

The regulator cited Safaricom’s SMS promotion that offered subscribers the chance to win airtime, weekly SMS, and mobile phones.

Safaricom dominated the SMSs segment with 19 billion texts or 95 per cent of the market followed by Airtel with 901.47 million SMSs or 4.5 per cent of the market, while Telkom Kenya accounted for 83 million texts or 0.4 per cent of the market.

The jump in the use of texts in the three months raised the number of SMSs 5.4 per cent to 69.6 billion in the 12 months to June from a similar period last year.

The regulator attributed the decline in voice traffic to a fall in call times by Safaricom subscribers and the Covid-19 restrictions that it says disrupted calling patterns and business activities as firms cut operating hours in line with the dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Voice traffic on the Safaricom network dropped 0.9 percent to 9.1 billion minutes from 10 billion minutes in March.

“The decline is attributed to conclusion of Stori Ibambe (Storo Bonus) promotion which ended on 13th May 2020,” the CA says.

“This is attributed to reduced business activity during the lockdown and curfew period occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected normal calling patterns.”

The preference for texts came as millions of workers who lost jobs or were forced to take salary cuts grappled with the economic fall-out of the pandemic.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that about 1.72 million workers lost their jobs in the three months to June after Kenya recorded the first Covid-19 positive case in March.

Young people, whom the CA says are some of the biggest users of SMSs, were the hardest hit by the job cuts compared to their counterparts aged above 35 years in an economic setting that is plagued by a hiring freeze on the back of sluggish corporate earnings.

Workers aged between 20 and 29 accounted for 1,158,466 or 63 percent of the lost jobs, further painting a grim future for fresh university graduates.