The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) has reported a significant shift in communication trends during the first quarter of the financial year.
CA revealed a decline in Short Message Service (SMS) usage while witnessing an increase in mobile voice traffic.
According to the CA’s report assessing the trends from July 1 to September 30, domestic SMS traffic experienced a 1.4 percent drop, decreasing from 12.4 billion messages to 12.2 billion.
The ratio of on-net to off-net SMS stood at 88:12, with on-net SMS traffic decreasing from 10.9 trillion to 10.7 trillion, and off-net reducing to 1.49 trillion from 1.5 trillion.
In contrast, the same period saw a 4.0 percent rise in total local mobile voice traffic, reaching 22.2 billion minutes, up from the 21.4 billion minutes reported in the previous quarter.
“On the other hand, the short messages per subscription per month continued to decline owing to stiff competition from other (OTT) messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and Signal, which continue to gain popularity following increased coverage in broadband,” the report reads.
Mobile money subscriptions experienced a slight increase, reaching 38.1 million, translating to a penetration rate of 75.2 percent. This marks a 0.1 percentage point rise from the previous quarter.
Minutes of use per subscriber per month showed a continuous upward trend, reaching 110.3 minutes. This growth is attributed to an increase in mobile subscriptions and various promotions, including voice and bundle offerings by service providers during the reviewed period.
As of the end of the first quarter, the majority of customers subscribed to data/internet speeds ranging between 2 Mbps and 10 Mbps.
Additionally, the report highlighted a 5.0 percent growth in the total international Internet bandwidth capacity in the country, reaching 17,353.722 Gbps from the 16,523.303 Gbps reported in the preceding quarter.
The utilization of undersea bandwidth also increased by 13.3 percent, recording 10,964.87 Gbps, with 8,011.046 Gbps used within the country and 2,953.820 Gbps sold outside the country.
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