Kenyans spent an average Sh114 more on internet in Q2, 2024 -CA

Internet users in Kenya spent more on mobile data in the three months to December, mainly driven by the long school holiday and Christmas season.

Communications Authority (CA) data for the period shows that average consumption per mobile subscriber rose to 13.1 GB up from 12.6 GB in the previous quarter, an upsurge in consumption by 500 megabytes.

This translates to at least Sh114.30 more per user, with the latest data by the World Bank indicating that the average cost of 1 GB of mobile data is around $0.59 (Sh76.20), but prices vary depending on the plan and provider.

According to the report, Kenya has the lowest pricing on mobile data as a proportion of monthly per capita gross national income within the East African region, with the purchase of a two-gigabyte (2GB) package taking up 1.97 per cent of an average person’s monthly income.

Used to evaluate the standards of living and quality of life of a select population, gross per capita income is calculated by dividing a country’s national income by its population.

In a report that seeks to explore new ways of leveraging private sector investment in digital communications infrastructure within the region, the World Bank ranks Kenya top among 13 sampled countries.

Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe closely trail Kenya on cheap offerings at 2.42 per cent, 2.46 per cent, 3.55 per cent, 4.44 per cent and 4.76 per cent of average incomes respectively, with the average of the 13 selected countries standing at 7.94 per cent.

South Sudan’s charges for the same data package are the highest at 32.59 per cent of average monthly earnings.

The affordability of mobile internet has seen an increase in subscriptions, with Q2 data by CA showing that it rose by 4.5 per cent to 56.1 million users from 53.7 million between July to September 2024.

Mobile broadband volume consumed during the period increased by 12.8 per cent to 568,315.8 Terabytes.

The affordability and high penetration have seen online activities such as streaming movies, online learning, and remote work among others accelerate demand for highspeed internet leading to increased uptake of higher generation mobile technologies as is the case of 4G and 5G.

Although Safaricom still leads the market in mobile service subscriptions at 63.5 per cent, Airtel steadily increased its market share to 32.1 per cent from 29.4 per cent in the previous quarter.

Telkom follows them at 1.6, Equitel at 1.5 per cent and Jamii at 1.3 per cent. Notably, smartphones maintained an upward trend at a penetration rate of 80.5 per cent while feature phones dropped to 59.3 per cent.

The rapid uptake in smartphones is attributable to the increased expansion of mobile broadband networks across the country, which currently stands at 97 per cent population coverage.

Availability and affordability of smartphones coupled with increased demand for access to digital services have significantly boosted smartphone penetration.

Overall, mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by two per cent, compared to the 1.6 per cent growth recorded at the end of September 2024.

This growth is mainly attributed to the busy festive season that runs within the same period pushing active SIMs to 71.4 million and a penetration rate of 138.5 per cent.

Subscription to mobile money services grew by 4.1 per cent to 42.3 million translating to a penetration rate of 82.1 per cent during the reference period.