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Broadband and mobile subscriptions rise in Kenya

Kenya , 04 Jan 2016

Broadband and mobile subscriptions rise in Kenya

More people are adopting the broadband experience in Kenya as companies try to link up individuals with faster internet connection. This is according to the latest Communications Authority of Kenya's quarter one report from July 2015 to September 2015, for the 2015/16 financial year.

"The number of broadband subscriptions increased by 19.3 percent to reach 6.3 million up from 5.3 million subscriptions recorded during the previous quarter marking a penetration level of 14.7 per cent," the report said.

As expected 99% of this broadband services are anchored on mobile networks, while the rest are on fixed networks.

The general adoption of internet continued on an upward trend putting the penetration at 74% in the country.

"The estimated number of Internet users stood at 31.9 million up from 29.6 million users estimated during the previous quarter. Subsequently, the population that had access to Internet services reached 74.2 per 100 inhabitants up from 69.0 per 100 inhabitants recorded during the previous quarter," CA reported.

Mobile penetration stood at 88.1%, with over 37 million subscribers being registered.

Finserve continued to score gains in the quarter as they saw their subscriptions rise 24.3% to clock 1,085,869. Finserve is a subsidiary of Equity Bank and provides the Equitel mobile service. The Equitel service gives banking abilities to Equity Bank account holders and also provides voice and data services.

Orange Telkom Kenya which was taken over by Helios Investment Partners in November 2015, saw marginal growth in the quarter, still showing their strength to acquire new subscribers.

The report analysed that, "Its pre-paid subscriptions increased from 4.0 million to 4.4 million subscriptions whereas and post-paid subscriptions dropped from 11,264 to 9,198 subscriptions during the quarter under review."

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