Kenya grows internet subscriber base 75% in 2012

The number of internet users in Kenya increased to 16.2 million at the end of 2012, up 11.6 percent from three months earlier and 81.7 percent more than a year earlier. According to the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK)'s quarterly report, the number of internet subscribers in the country rose to 9.5 million by the end of December, up 75.1 percent from end-2011. 

The regulator attributed the growth to the expansion in international internet connectivity, which has helped drive down prices. International bandwidth increased by 18.1 percent in Q4 alone, to 328.6 Gbps. Almost all the internet subscribers used mobile connections, while fibre was the second-most used technology, with just over 54,000 subscribers. 

Meanwhile, the number of mobile subscribers in Kenya rose to 30.7 million at year-end, up just 1.0 percent from the previous quarter as the market approaches saturation. Mobile penetration increased to 78 percent at year-end. All mobile operators recorded positive growth in subscribers in Q4, apart from Orange Kenya, which lost 609,321 customers. Safaricom continued to dominate the market with 64.5 percent of subscribers, followed by Airtel with 16.9 percent, Yu with 10.5 percent and Orange at 8.1 percent. 

Mobile money subscribers increased by 9.4 percent in the three months to 21.1 million. Deposits over the mobile money systems increased 10.3 percent to KES 226 billion, and the number of mobile money agents rose by 14.5 percent to 62,300.