capacity from 340 thousand in 2014 to 75 thousand in 2015. However, the wireline connections,
increased by 77.1 per cent from 48 thousand in 2014 to 85 thousand in 2015.
Mobile Network Services: In 2015, the mobile telephone capacity declined by 3.5 per cent to 62.8
million owing to the exit of Essar Kenya (YU) limited. Airtel Kenya and Safaricom took over subscribers
and infrastructure from the exiting operator, respectively. However, Equitel, which is a Mobile Virtual
Network Operator (MVNO) on Airtel infrastructure, entered the market during the same year. This led
to an increase of 12.1 per cent mobile connections to stand at 37.7 million subscribers in 2015. The
growth in the subscribers resulted in an expansion in used mobile capacity from 51.7 per cent in 2014
to 60.1 per cent in 2015.In the mobile money sector, the number of agents increased by 16.4 per cent
from 123,703 in 2014 to 143,946 in 2015. Similarly, the number of mobile money transfer service
subscribers grew by 2.8 per cent to 26.8 million over the same period. Total amount of money
transacted through mobile money platforms expanded by 18.7 per cent to KSh 2,816 billion during the
review period.
International Telephone Traffic: The international telephone traffic increased by 11.4 per cent from
1,053 million minutes in 2014 to 1,173 million minutes in 2015. This was a reversal from the declines
that had been recorded since 2013. The outgoing and incoming international telephone traffic
increased by 17.9 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively, in 2015. The increase in the international
mobile traffic was partly due to the reduction of international mobile rates within the East African
Community, except Tanzania, through the One Network Area Initiative that enhanced the
standardization of the calling rates. The decline in fixed line traffic may be attributed to the
decommissioning of the fixed wireless network during the review period.
Roaming Traffic: Total roaming traffic more than doubled to 194.8 million minutes in 2015. Similarly,
both outbound and inbound roaming more than doubled to 91.2 and 103.6 million minutes,
respectively, during the review period. The increase in roaming traffic may partly be attributed to the
reduced calling rates within the East African Community (EAC) and the visits by high-level dignitaries
during the review period.
Domestic Traffic: The total domestic telephone call traffic increased by 27.7 per cent from 30.7 billion
minutes in 2014 to 39.2 billion minutes in 2015. Mobile to mobile telephone traffic increased by 28.2
per cent to 39.1 billion minutes, to account for 99.7 per cent of the total domestic telephone traffic.
Mobile to fixed telephone traffic increased by 13.3 per cent to 75.4 million minutes. However, fixed
to fixed telephone traffic registered a drastic decline from 23.3 million minutes in 2014 to 5.3 million
minutes in 2015 mainly attributed to the decommissioning of the fixed wireless network.
Message Services Traffic: Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) enables individuals mainly to send
graphics, sound or video. The number of messages sent via MMS rose by 13.9 per cent to 13.7 million
in 2015. The total number of messages sent via Short Messaging Services (SMS) increased by 3.3 per
cent compared to a 38.2 per cent increase recorded in 2014. The number of international SMS
received declined by 19.0 per cent to 131.1 million in 2015 compared to a 60.7 per cent increase
recorded in 2014 . The slowed growth in SMS was associated with high uptake of Over the Tops (OTTs)
platform such as Whats App and use of social media during the review period.
Internet: The number of licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) increased by 24.9 per cent from 177
in 2014 to 221 in 2015.. The estimated internet users also expanded by 35.9 per cent to 35.6 million
users over the same period. Total wireless internet subscriptions increased by 45.4 per cent to 23.8
million with the terrestrial mobile data subscribers having the largest share. Total wired internet
subscriptions increased by 20.2 per cent to 115,111 with fixed fiber optic data accounting for 96.7 per
cent of the total wired subscriptions in 2015. Fixed fiber optic data grew by 37.1 per cent to 111,354
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