Kenya SMS use increases by 29.1 percent to reach 15.8 billion/quarter

SMS messages sent in Kenya during the last quarter of 2016 total dozens of messages per resident.

This is according to the Communication Authority of Kenya Quarterly Statistics report, which was released 3 April and reviewed the last three months of 2016.

The report showed that the number of Short Messaging Service (SMS) sent during the quarter increased significantly by 29.1 percent to register 15.8 billion messages, up from 12.2 billion messages sent during the previous quarter.

With an estimated population in Kenya of 45 million, about 35 SMS messages were sent for every man, woman and child in the country.

The number of SMS sent from Safaricom Limited network increased to record 15.0 billion messages, up from 11.5 billion messages posted during the previous quarter. Its SMS market share was registered at 95.1 percent during the quarter, compared to last quarter’s share of 94.4 percent.

The introduction of the One Area Network by the Northern Corridor country regulators that includes Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Southern Sudan has contributed to the continued growth of minutes of usage within the region, according to the report.

While it’s widely known that the majority of Kenyans access the internet through wireless services, the report makes it clear just how dominant that option is here.

“Among those who accessed Internet; mobile data subscriptions continued to account for the highest stake, posting 26.7 million subscriptions during the quarter under review, which represented 99 percent of the subscriptions,” the report said., adding that “the number of estimated Internet users recorded a growth of 4.3 percent to stand at 39.6 million compared to 37.7 million users recorded during the preceding quarter.

“Internet penetration stood at 89.7 per cent up from 85.3 per cent during the previous quarter.”

Among the small number of people who are not using wireless services to access the internet, “fixed fibre optic and fixed cable modem subscriptions grew by 18.0 and 2.8 per cent respectively.

“The number of broadband subscriptions continued its upward trend, recording 12.7 million subscriptions up from 11.9 million subscriptions registered during the preceding quarter.”

The report noted that phones are more and more affordable, as is the access.

“This could be attributed to the affordability of smartphones in the country as well as affordable data/internet bundles offered by various internet service operators,” the report said.