456.6 million transactions valued at Ksh.1.1 trillion were made via mobile money in the quarter ending December 31
The total number of mobile money subscriptions was recorded at 31.9 million subscriptions while active mobile money transfer agents were recorded at 161,583 during the quarter ending 31st December 2016. The volume of transactions made (deposits and withdrawals) was recorded at 456.6 million transactions valued at Ksh.1.1 trillion. During the quarter mobile commerce posted a total of 262.6 million transactions valued at Ksh.586.4 billion. Person to person transfers made during the quarter amounted to Ksh.515.9 billion.
The table below shows the trends in mobile money transfer services:
Mobile Money Transfer Service
*Provisional data
Mobile number portability registered a decline in the number of in-ports to stand at 153 down from 404 in-ports recorded during the last quarter. This represents a fall of 62.1 percent.
Total voice traffic originating from one mobile network to another recorded a growth of 0.9 percent during the quarter under review to stand at 10.8 billion minutes up from 10.7 billion minutes posted during the previous quarter. When compared to the same period of the previous year, a growth of 5.6 percent was recorded. On the contrary, the minutes of use per month per subscription slightly fell to register 92.7 minutes during the quarter down from last quarter’s 92.8 minutes. The general increase in the mobile voice traffic could mainly be attributed to a busy festive season during the period where many people were communicating to wish their family and friends happy festive season.
The number of Outgoing Short Messaging Service (SMS) traffic recorded a remarkable growth of 29.1 percent during the quarter to reach 15.8 billion messages up from 12.2 billion messages sent during the preceding quarter. The overall increase in the number of SMS sent could be attributed to increased activities during the quarter under review.
In broadcasting sub sector, the number of free to-air TV channels on the digital terrestrial platform at the end of the period under review stood at 66 up from 63 recorded in the preceding quarter while number of pay TV service providers on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) remained at 2, namely:
- GoTV
- StarTimes
As such, the cumulative number of digital Set Top Boxes purchased as at the end of the quarter under review stood at 722,196 Free-to-Air set top boxes (FTA STBs) and 3,534,086 for PAY TV. On the other hand, the total number of FM stations stood at 139 during the period under review. The digital broadcasting signal covers 66 percent of the Kenyan population. By the end of the period under review, the digital signal was on air in;
- Nairobi
- Nakuru
- Nyeri
- Mombasa
- Kisumu
- Eldoret
- Malindi
- Meru
- Kisii
- Kericho
- Narok
- Nyahururu
- Embu
- Migori
- Machakos
- Murang’a
- Naivasha
- Nyeri
- Webuye
- Kapenguria
- Kitui
- Lamu
- Namanga
- Kakamega
- Kabarnet
- Siaya
- Homabay
- Timboroa
- Nanyuki
- Thika
- Limuru
- Mwingi
- Kajiado
- Kibwezi
- Garissa
- Voi
- Kilifi
In the postal and courier segment, the volume of letters posted experienced a drop of 7.7 percent to register 15.8 million letters down from 17.2 million letters posted last quarter while the number of parcels sent grew by 26.8 percent to post 1.6 million items during the period under review. The volume of letters received from other countries grew by 8.9 percent to stand at 2.2 million up from 2.1 million witnessed in the previous quarter. On the other hand, international outgoing letters declined during the quarter to stand at 1.9 million letters from last quarter’s 2 million letters. The number of postal and private courier outlets remained at 623 and 1,599 respectively in the quarter under review.
The quarter under review witnessed mixed growth in different sub-sectors in the industry. Mobile telephony segment witnessed an upward trend as well as the local mobile and SMS traffic. This could be as attributed to the busy festive season where operators launched various promotions and special offers to entice their customers. The growth is expected to continue:
- As the network coverage is expanded to cover the remote areas
- Innovative solutions are deployed
- Competition drives down the cost of access
- Feature phones with Internet access capability becomes more widely available in Kenya
In the data/internet sub sector, the uptake of smartphones by consumers that offer access to various mobile phone applications which include: social media, search engines, email and video chat which are very popular applications has seen increase in the use of internet/data services. As technologies develop and become popular, new uses and consumer behaviours emerge. It is expected that the introduction of new generation of network and device technologies will lead to further changes in usage.
In the postal and courier segment, contrary to previous performance during the festive season, there was drop in letters posted locally and a growth in courier items sent locally. The volume of international incoming letters experienced a growth while the volume of international outgoing letters dropped during the period.
