Why Kenya’s mobile subscription figures could be inflated

Why Kenya’s mobile subscription figures could be inflated

Kenya has 26 million or even less mobile phone subscribers, a new report says. The figure is lower than what the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) recently reported, in an indication that many subscribers have multiple SIM cards. GSM Association, the London-based global mobile operators’ lobby group, in a study released Wednesday,  shows Kenya only accounts for five per cent of the slightly over half a billion people across Africa that are subscribed to mobile services. The CA last month said Kenya had 38.3 million subscribers as at March 2016. But the new ‘Mobile Economy: Africa 2016’ report released at the ongoing GSMA Mobile 360 – Africa conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, shows Kenya has about 12 million less subscribers than earlier estimated by Kenya’s telecoms regulator. This means the country’s mobile penetration rate is also much lower than CA’s rate of 89.2 per cent as at March 2016. GSMA analyst Kenechi Okeleke said CA’s numbers could be taking into account all mobile phone connections, whether active or not.
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