Q3: Safaricom cede ground to foe Airtel Networks
Steve Umidha @SteveUmidha
Safaricom’s share of mobile subscribers fell to 64.8 per cent in the Third Quarter ended March 2020 for the financial year 2019/2020 making it one of the lowest market share it has ever recorded as rival Airtel steadily won over customers.
Latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) says, although the country’s largest mobile operator has the highest number of subscribers at 34.5 million, the operator recorded lowest calls for both on-net and off-net, due to higher calling rates charged within and across networks.
Nairobi Securities Exchange listed (NSE) Safaricom’s market share last year stood at 63.5 per cent, its lowest in a decade, compared to 65.4 per cent a year earlier.
Subscriber base
The surge in Airtel subscriber base is largely credited to sustained cheaper tariffs with lowest call rates in a promotional offer since 2018 to intensify the onslaught on Safaricom.
Airtel gained 0.7 percentage points to post 26.6 per cent market share during the period under review while Equitel’s presence remained unchanged at 3.1 per cent. Similarly, Telkom Kenya shed 0.4 percentage points to post a market share of 5.8 per cent.
The industry regulator attributed the declines on stiff market competition between the two big operators in a period that saw Airtel Networks for instance review its Vuka Pay as You Go tariff for mobile data from Sh4/MB to Sh2.3/MB during the reference period.
The dip in mobile subscriptions posted by Telkom Kenya was blamed on scaling down in anticipation of the proposed Airtel-Telkom merger although this has since changed.
Subscriber base
Total internet subscriptions dropped by 0.7 per cent during the review period to stand at 39.3 million from 39.6 million subscriptions reported in the second quarter.
During the period under review, CA said it received 14 new applications for tariffs, and promotions and special offers, a similar scenario witnessed in the previous quarter.
The Authority also received 15 applications for revision of existing tariffs and promotions and well as special offers during the same period across all networks.
Further, the report says active registered mobile money subscriptions stood at 29.1 million while the number of active mobile money agents stood at 202,102.
