The number of active mobile (SIM) subscriptions in Kenya increased to 68 million as of the end of March, representing a penetration rate of 132.1%.
This is according to the latest sector statistics released by the country’s telecoms regulator the Communications Authority (CA).
The figure is up from 66.7 million subscriptions at the end of December 2023, representing an increase of 1.95% over the three month period.
Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom tops the subscription list with 44,666,368 subscribers, followed by Airtel with 19,858,255, Finserve (Equitel) with 1,497,283, Telkom Kenya with 1,478,668 and Jamii Telkom with 545,819 subscribers.
The regulator says this growth is attributed to customer win-back campaigns run during that period
The CA also notes that mobile money subscriptions have grown to 38.7 million, translating to a penetration rate of 75%.
The growth in mobile money is attributed to the removal of withdrawal codes for transactions sent from M-Pesa to Airtel Money, which means that funds can now be transferred directly into an Airtel Money account (wallet).
The total mobile data subscriptions also stood at 51.3 million, of which 72.6% were on mobile broadband.
5G mobile subscriptions rose from 509,737 to 653,716, while 4G mobile subscriptions now sit at 27.6 million, 3G and 2G sit at 9 million and 14 million respectively.
CA says in the statistics report that the total available International Internet bandwidth capacity in the country also grew by 20.0 per cent to 20,744.338 Gbps.
‘’This is attributed to the upgrade of the capacity during the reference period,‘’ it says.
The total utilized undersea bandwidth capacity grew by 1.5 per cent to 11,155.154 Gbps, out of which 8,201.334 Gbps were used in the country and 2,953.820 Gbps were sold outside the country.
Utilized satellite capacity also increased remarkably following the launch of Elon Musk-owned Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency satellite Internet in the country in July last year.
The Third Quarter Sector Statistics Report provides the performance and trends in Kenya’s ICT sector for the period 1st January to 31st March 2024.
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