2019 Kenya - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 22 Apr 2020 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 157

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

Contact BuddeComm

Purchase this Report

Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Kenya’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Facts, figures and statistics;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure developments;
Major Players, Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, MoU;
Mobile Voice and Data Markets;
Broadband (FttP, DSL, cable, wireless);
Mobile subscribers and ARPU;
Broadband market forecasts;
Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
Market liberalisation and industry issues;
Telecoms operators – privatisation, IPOs, acquisitions, new licences;
Mobile technologies (GSM; 3G, HSPA, LTE).

Researcher:- Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- April 2019 (18th Edition)

Executive Summary

Kenya’s mobile market to be transformed with Airtel/Telkom merger

Kenya’s telecommunications market continues to undergo considerable changes in the wake of increased competition, improved international connectivity, and rapid developments in the mobile market. The landing of four fibre-optic international submarine cables in recent years dramatically reduced the cost of phone calls and internet access, allowing internet services to be affordable to a far greater proportion of the population. In parallel, the sector’s regulator has reduced interconnection tariffs and implemented a range of regulations aimed at developing further competition.

The incumbent fixed-line telco has struggled to make headway in this market, prompting reorganisation in 2018 which included a sale and leaseback arrangement with its mobile tower portfolio. In early 2019 the company signed a merger agreement with Airtel Kenya in which Telkom will retain a 49% share in the merged business which will provide a greater challenge to the market dominance of Safaricom.

Numerous competitors are rolling out national and metropolitan fibre backbone networks and wireless access networks to deliver services to population centres across the country. Several fibre infrastructure sharing agreements have been forged, and as a result the number of fibre broadband connections increased 94% in the year to September 2018.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Telkom Kenya agrees to merger with Airtel Kenya;
Kenya sees a 41% increase in international bandwidth in the year to September 2018;
Universal Service Fund extends mobile coverage to underserved northern regions;
Safaricom launches M-PESA Global payment service;
Government proposes increase in m-money transfer tax;
Regulator introduces a new system to measure QoS parameters;
M-money interoperability starts;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data to September 2018, operator data to Q3 2018, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telkom Kenya, Jamii Telecom, Access Kenya (Dimension Data), Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC), Wananchi, Safaricom, Bharti Airtel, MTN, Liquid Telecom, Essar Telkom Kenya, Mobile Pay (Tangaza Pesa), Zioncell Kenya, Finserve Africa (Equitel), Kenya Data Networks (KDN), Jamii Telecom, SimbaNet, Africa Online, Access Kenya (Dimension Data), Wananchi Online, Swift Global, Internet Solutions Kenya (InterConnect), Gilat Satellite Networks, Afsat Communications, Inmarsat, Indigo Telecom (Thuraya), Nation TV (NTV)

Henry Lancaster
April 2019

Key statistics
Country overview
COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Mobile devices
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Overview of Kenya’s telecom market

Regulatory environment

Kenya Communications Act 1998
Regulatory authority
Revised Telecommunications Market Structure 2004
Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2009
Licence fees
Universal Service Fund (USF)
Interconnection
Number portability
Spectrum auctions
Foreign ownership
Telecom sector liberalisation

Privatisation of Telkom
Regional telecom licences
Second national operator (SNO) licensing
International gateway licences
Unified licensing regime

Fixed network operators

Telkom Kenya

Wireless Local Loop (WLL)

Liquid Telecom Kenya (KDN)
Jamii Telecom
AccessKenya

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI)

Liquid Telecom
Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC)
Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC)
Safaricom
MTN
Fibre infrastructure sharing
Data centres

International infrastructure

Satellite
Terrestrial fibre
Submarine fibre

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market analysis
Internet backbone infrastructure
Broadband statistics
Forecasts – Fixed broadband subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Public internet access locations

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Internet Exchange Points (IXP)
Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC)
National broadband strategy
ISP market

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Other fixed broadband services

Wireless broadband
Broadband via satellite
Project Loon

Digital economy

E-learning

National research and education network (NREN)

E-commerce
E-government

Mobile communications

Overview of Kenya’s mobile market

General statistics
Mobile data
Mobile broadband
Forecasts - mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023

Regulatory issues

Roaming
Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
International gateways
Spectrum
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Network sharing
Quality of Service (QoS)
SIM card registration
Taxes
Tariff regulation

Mobile infrastructure

Analogue networks
Digital networks4G (LTE)

Major mobile operators

Mobile market share by operator
Safaricom
Airtel Kenya (formerly Zain, Celtel, KenCell)
Essar Telecom Kenya (yuMobile, formerly Econet)
Telkom Kenya
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Mobile content and applications

Mobile money transfer, m-banking
M-medicine

Handsets

Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Kenya – 2018
Table 2 – Telecom sector revenue in Kenya – 2007 – 2016
Table 3 – ICT sector revenue in Kenya – 2012 – 2016
Table 4 – Telkom fixed-line subscribers – 2008 – 2016
Table 5 – Fixed-wireless subscriptions in Kenya – 2007 – 2016
Table 6 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Kenya – 1999 – 2009
Table 7 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Kenya – 2010 – 2018
Table 8 – International bandwidth in Kenya – 2000 – 2018
Table 9 – International bandwidth capacity by platform – 2013 – 2018
Table 10 – International bandwidth used – 2013 – 2018
Table 11 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate in Kenya – 1999 – 2009
Table 12 – Internet users and penetration rate in Kenya – 2010 – 2018
Table 13 – Internet subscriptions – 2010 – 2018
Table 14 – Wireless internet subscriptions by access technology – 2010 – 2018
Table 15 – Fixed-line broadband subscriptions by access technology – 2010 – 2018
Table 16 – Broadband subscriptions – 2014 – 2018
Table 17 – Internet services revenue and investments – 2009 – 2015
Table 18 – Forecast fixed broadband subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Table 19 – DSL broadband subscribers – 2009 – 2018
Table 20 – Fixed/fixed wireless market share of subscribers by operator – 2017
Table 21 – Fixed/fixed wireless market share of subscribers by operator – Sept 2018
Table 22 – Safaricom fixed broadband subscribers – 2015 – 2017
Table 23 – Safaricom fixed broadband premises covered – 2016 – 2018
Table 24 – Fibre broadband subscribers – 2011 – 2018
Table 25 – Mobile services revenue and investments – 2009- 2017
Table 26 –Mobile traffic share by operator – 2014 – 2018
Table 27 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Kenya – 1999 – 2009
Table 28 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Kenya – 2010 – 2018
Table 29 – Prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2014- 2018
Table 30 – SMS traffic by quarter – 2012 – 2018
Table 31 – SMS annual traffic – 2008 – 2017
Table 32 – MMS traffic – 2012 – 2015
Table 33 – Mobile internet subscribers by provider – 2013 – 2017
Table 34 – Mobile internet market share by provider – 2014 – 2018
Table 35 – Active mobile broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 36 – Mobile data subscribers – 2015 – 2018
Table 37 – Forecast mobile subscribers – 2019; 2021; 2023
Table 38 – Annual mobile number portings – 2013- 2018
Table 39 – 2G Mobile base stations by operator – 2012- 2017
Table 40 – 3G Mobile base stations by operator – 2012- 2017
Table 41 – Market share of subscribers by operator – 2010 – 2018
Table 42 – Safaricom revenue – 2011 – 2019
Table 43 – Safaricom revenue by sector – 2010 – 2019
Table 44 – Safaricom - proportion of service revenue by sector – 2014 – 2019
Table 45 – Safaricom subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 46 – Safaricom base stations by technology – 2013 – 2018
Table 47 – Airtel Kenya subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 48 – Historic - Essar Telecom subscribers – 2010 – 2014
Table 49 – Telkom Kenya revenue – 2010 – 2014
Table 50 – Telkom Kenya mobile subscribers – 2011 – 2018
Table 51 – Finserve Africa mobile subscribers – 2014 – 2018
Table 52 – Mobile money penetration rate – 2013 – 2018
Table 53 – Mobile money transfer statistics – 2011 – 2018
Table 54 – Mobile money subscribers by operator – 2014 – 2018
Table 55 – Safaricom - M-PESA revenue – 2008 – 2019
Table 56 – Safaricom – active M-PESA customers – 2012 – 2018
Table 57 – Safaricom –M-PESA transactions value by type – 2011 – 2018

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2005 – 2018
Chart 2 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Kenya – 2005 – 2018
Chart 3 – Prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2014- 2018
Chart 4 – Active mobile broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Chart 5 – Market share of subscribers by operator – 2010 – 2018
Chart 6 – Safaricom revenue – 2011 – 2019
Chart 7 – Safaricom revenue by sector – 2010 – 2019
Chart 8 – Safaricom - proportion of service revenue by sector – 2014 – 2019
Chart 9 – Safaricom –M-PESA transactions value by type – 2011 – 2018

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Texting elephants
Exhibit 2 – Job offers by SMS

Related Reports

Purchase this Report

Contact BuddeComm

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Monitor critical insights with our AI-powered Market Intelligence Platform gathering and analyzing intelligence in real time. With AI trained to spot emerging trends and detect new strategic opportunities, our clients use TMT Intelligence to accelerate their growth.

If you want to know more about it, please see:

TMT Intelligence Platform

Research Methodology

BuddeComm's strategic business reports contain a combination of both primary and secondary research statistics, analyses written by our senior analysts supported by a network of experts, industry contacts and researchers from around the world as well as our own scenario forecasts.

For more details, please see:

Research Methodology

More than 4,000 customers from 140 countries utilise BuddeComm Research

Are you interested in BuddeComm's Custom Research Service?

Hot Topics

News & Views

Have the latest telecommunications industry news delivered to your inbox by subscribing to BuddeComm's weekly newsletter.

Unsubscribe

2019 Kenya - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Kenya’s mobile market to be transformed with Airtel/Telkom merger

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Digital economy

Mobile communications

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views