2018 Kenya - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Kenya’s mature m-commerce sector looking to network interoperability

Kenya’s telecommunications market continues to undergo considerable changes in response to 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, Telkom Kenya, which was managed by Orange Group from 2007 until it was sold to Helios in November 2015, has struggled to make headway in the competitive market. 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 almost tripled in the year to September 2017.

The mobile market has continued to grow steadily, supported by a mobile subscriber base of about 41 million by early 2018. Some market consolidation occurred following the acquisition by Airtel and Safaricom of Essar Telecom’s yuMobile business. While all network operators have invested in mobile technologies and infrastructure upgrades to support mobile data services, competition has nevertheless presented challenges to their profitability, with uneven revenue growth reported in recent years. However, Safaricom has seen very strong growth on the back of its popular M-PESA payment platform. This market dominance, however, encouraged the government to consider, and later dismiss, recommendations from a 2016 report that Safaricom split off its M-PESA business from its voice and data offerings.

To encourage the development of LTE services the government has pursued an open-access approach. Disputes centered on licence fees delayed the launch of LTE services by MNOs, though they continued to invest in infrastructure and technology upgrades using trial licences.

A number of major WiMAX deployments and FttP rollouts have been undertaken, which have pushed fast broadband connectivity to a greater number of subscribers in urban areas. Nevertheless, the vast majority of broadband subscribers remain on mobile networks.

Key developments:

• Government cuts back on scale of second phase national broadband network project;
• Telkom Kenya completes first phase of a KES600 million network upgrade project;
• Universal Service Fund extends mobile coverage to underserved northern regions;
• Telecom regulator loses certain powers to the Competition Authority of Kenya;
• Test phase of m-money interoperability starts;
• Jamii Telecom launches cut-price LTE services;
• Regulator rejects proposal for Safaricom’s M-PESA service to be split off from voice and data services;
• Telkom Kenya's revamped m-money platform to be relaunched;
• Kenya Power trials fibre access on its electricity network;
• AccessKenya completes metropolitan fibre network rollout in Nairobi and Nakuru;
• International internet bandwidth continues to rise;
• Government progresses with national broadband strategy.
• Report update includes the regulator’s market data to September 2017, operator data to Q3 2017, 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, Safaricom, Essar Telkom Kenya, Mobile Pay (Tangaza Pesa), Zioncell Kenya, Finserve Africa (Equitel), Kenya Data Networks (KDN), SimbaNet, Africa Online, Swift Global, Internet Solutions Kenya (InterConnect), Gilat Satellite Networks, Afsat Communications, Inmarsat, Indigo Telecom (Thuraya), Nation TV (NTV).