Internet Service Provider Mawingu Networks had its active subscription numbers reduced to comply with the 90-day active user directive issued by the Communications Authority (CA).

According to the latest CAK quarterly report (July to September 2018) the ISP now has 13,128 subscribers from 77,722 reported in the last quarter (April to June 2018). The change has also affected the total number of terrestrial wireless data subscriptions to stand at 59,380 from 122,037 in the last quarter.

"This drop is attributed to the regulatory guidance issued by the Authority to Mawingu Networks Ltd to review its data on the number of data/Internet subscriptions in-line with the official definition of an active subscription which refers to any subscription that has generated revenue within the last 90 days," stated the regulator in its report.

Fredrick Macharia, the Infrastructure and Operations Manager at Mawingu Networks said, "The figures that were declared previously were all based on the total number of users who had hit our database."

Being an internet hotspot provider, users would only buy bundles when they were in Mawingu's coverage area and sometimes repeat customers would stay longer than 90 days to access the network, Macharia explained.

Currently, Mawingu Networks serves, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Meru, Embu, Karatina and Isiolo towns.

The ISP was positioned in third place in the market, after Wananchi and Safaricom, and now lies in 6th place.

Meanwhile, Wananchi Group posted a significant growth from the last quarter to register a market share of 39% with 137,213 subscriptions from 112,155 in the last quarter.

"This is as a result of a number of deployments and rollouts undertaken by the service providers enabling more subscribers to enjoy the fast broadband connectivity in various parts of the country," the CA explained.