Last year, the ownership of mobile phones in Kenya increased to 64 percent from 61 percent in 2021, indicating that telecommunication companies, primarily Safaricom and Airtel Kenya, acquired more customers.
Airtel Africa, which operates in Kenya and neighboring markets, published the data that excludes the influence of owning multiple SIM cards when assessing mobile penetration.
Kenya holds the highest mobile penetration rate in the region, surpassing Zambia (57 percent in 2022), Tanzania (54 percent), Nigeria (48 percent), Uganda (45 percent), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (44 percent).
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) considers multiple SIM cards in its calculations, resulting in a mobile uptake figure of 130.5 percent for the quarter ending March 2023.
This methodology had previously led to a much higher penetration rate of 133.1 percent in December 2022.
The CA’s report states, “Active mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew to 66.1 million by the end of March 31, 2023, up from the 65.7 million reported in the previous quarter.
This translated to a mobile (SIM) penetration rate of 130.5 percent, reflecting a decrease of 2.6 percentage points.
The decline in penetration is due to the adjustment of the country’s population figures from 49.4 million to 50.6 million, as indicated in the Economic Survey 2023.”
Airtel’s definition of unique mobile penetration, which represents the percentage of the total population that owns a mobile phone, relies on data from Omdia market analysts.
This data positions Kenya’s population at 54 million as of 2022.
The significant gap of around 66 percentage points between the CA and Airtel’s penetration rates highlights the prevalence of owning multiple SIM cards, driven by subscribers aiming to capitalize on lower prices from competing telecom operators.
For instance, Airtel discovered that there were 66 million SIM cards last year, exceeding Kenya’s population.
The CA stated in a prior report, “Consumers owning multiple SIM cards contribute to the high mobile (SIM) penetration in the country.
Furthermore, as Kenyan consumers become increasingly price-sensitive, they are likely to continue acquiring multiple SIM cards to take advantage of the special plans offered by different operators.”
Safaricom, Airtel, and Telkom Kenya present a range of permanent and temporary offerings, covering voice, data, mobile money, and messaging services.
This has led consumers to purchase multiple SIM cards from various providers for use as needed.
While some subscribers maintain an older line to ensure their contacts can reach them, the initial intention was for mobile number portability to address this issue.
However, the service allowing customers to switch to another telecom company without changing their number has encountered limited uptake.
