TMCnet News
Kenya: Kenyan telecoms firms hit by changing technology trends [Pan African News Agency](Pan African News Agency Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan telecommunications companies have recorded 2.7% drop in voice traffic and a 10% drop in the Short Messaging Service (SMS) volumes as mobile phone users shifted to the use of new technologies on smart phones. Mobile telephone users are speaking less and using more Over the Top (OTT) messaging services, including whatsapp, even though the regulator warned it was still too early to determine the effects of new technologies on revenues. The data by the telecommunications sector regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya, for the period of January to March 2014, show that the service providers have lost a combined 200 million minutes as a result of the shrinking use of voice. The voice traffic dropped to 7.6 billion minutes across all networks from 7.8 billion minutes used previously, with an average user now spending 80 minutes a month on the phone compared to 84 minutes every user in the past year. The SMS traffic dropped the most over the past year with only 6.22 billion SMS sent by the country's 31.3 mobile phone subscribers down from 6.28 billion SMSs. To the contrary, the number of new Internet users climbed to 13.3 million, representing a 1.3% growth in the Internet users, who currently number 21.1 million. Kenya, a country of about 42 million people, currently has a mobile phone service growth rate of 78.2%, with about 26.2 million of them using mobile phones for banking services and other key services. But the mobile phone firms and their fixed line operators have suffered from a drop in the amount of time spent by foreign callers. The international incoming voice, dropped by 1.6% to 144 million minutes from 146 million in the past quarter. This was a result of the whatsapp, Skype, Viber, OVoo, which allow users to resort to high quality video at much lower prices. The decline in the international voice was three times what was registered a year ago, according to CAK analysts Outgoing voice traffic also dropped by 4.3% to 113.8 million minutes down from 118.9 million, a massive 16.9% drop. However, incoming international SMS grew by 6.8%. The Kenyan telecoms market remains firmly in the hands of Safaricom, which controls 78.5% market share, followed by Airtel, which currently has 10.9% market share. Airtel lost a sizeable Market share while Safaricom gained 0.3% market share. Orange, also known as Telecom Kenya, the former Fixed Line monopoly, controls only 3.1% market share and has been overtaken by new entrant, Essar Telecom of India, which now has 7.6% of the market share in the voice segment. Safaricom carried 6 billion minutes of telephone conversations out of the 7.6 billion combined national average, while its competitors Airtel carried 835 million minutes, with 583 million minutes carried by Essar and 234 million on Orange. -0- PANA AO/VAO 1Aug2014 (c) 2014 PANAPRESS. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |