Airtel and Telkom Kenya reporting market share gains 0.8% and 0.4% respectively of mobile data subscriptions market in Q3 2020. This is according to recent statistical report published by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK).
Safaricom still holds the lion’s share of the market at 67.5% albeit it lost just about 1.2% of its market share during the period. Airtel Kenya now has a 26.8% market share while Telkom has a 5.4% market share. Equitel holds the remaining 0.3% of the mobile data subscription market.
On the other hand, mobile data subscriptions in Kenya hit a new high with a total of 43.5 million new subscriptions. The growth is partly attributed to the aftereffects of the novel corona virus that saw an increase in work-from-home arrangements.
With close to 99% of Kenyans relying on mobile data to go online, it was rather obvious that there will be an increase in the number of mobile data subscriptions.
However, with remote work often requiring massive amounts of data the shift is now towards low-cost data providers or alternatively the adoption of fixed internet connections.
Airtel and Telkom by an absolute standard offer cheaper data rates and this could be the reason why they are reporting small wins in the mobile data front. However, Safaricom is still winning in the fixed data report with the CAK reporting that the company has a 35.6% market share.
With the mobile data subscription market edging close to saturation, fixed data is the probable next frontier for market growth for telecommunication companies and thus it will be interesting how all this will play out with remote work gradually becoming part of the new normal.
Kevin is a tech enthusiast and the lead writer at MobiTrends.co.ke. He has been writing about smartphones and tech related topics since October 2012. About Us | Contact Us
