Net additions to the mobile subscriber base stood at 1.1 million in the fourth quarter ended 30 June, said the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). Cumulatively, there were 6.6 million net additions during the 2018/19 financial year. The number of active SIM cards was 52.2 million, up from 51.0 million SIMs at the end of March, translating to a SIM penetration of 109.2 per cent.
During the period under review, Safaricom had the highest market share at 63.5 per cent in mobile subscriptions and Mobile Pay had the smallest at 0.2 per cent. Telkom Kenya and Finserve Africa each gained 0.2 percentage points and reached 8.1 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.
Total local voice traffic originating from mobile networks dropped by 1.3 per cent to 16.2 billion minutes from 16.4 billion minutes in the quarter to March. The ratio between on-net and off-net local mobile voice traffic was 9:1 in Q4. However, total local mobile traffic for the 2018/19 financial year grew by 24.4 per cent to 61.7 billion from 49.6 billion minutes the year before.
The volume of local voice traffic originating from Safaricom fell to 9.19 billion minutes in Q4 from 9.8 billion in the previous quarter. Its market share dropped to 56.8 per cent from 59.9 per cent. However, cumulative voice traffic for the financial year 2018/19 increased to 37.4 billion from 34.6 billion minutes in the previous financial year.
The originating voice traffic for Airtel increased by 7.7 percent to 6.3 billion minutes. The operator gained 3.2 percentage points to record a market share of 39.0 per cent. The operator’s total voice traffic grew by 73.6 per cent during the financial year to 21.4 billion minutes.
Outgoing traffic for Telkom Kenya declined from 671.8 million recorded last quarter to 647.3 million minutes during the period under review. Its market share declined by 0.1 percentage points to 4.0 percent. Its total traffic for the 2018/19 financial year was 2.6 billion minutes, up by 14.3 percent from the previous year.
Finserve Africa recorded 30.9 million minutes during the Fourth Quarter of the 2018/19 financial year down from 33.2 million minutes recorded in last quarter. The market share remained unchanged from last quarter at 0.2 per cent.
