Smaller operators have started nibbling at Safaricom’s mobile market share, according to the latest Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data, pointing to a surprising shift in the market that saw Orange become the biggest gainer of customers.
Communications Authority of Kenya’s quarterly 2015/2016 (October-December) report states that Safaricom lost its lead by 1.6 per cent, to settle at 64.7 per cent in the period under review. “The mobile telephony sub-sector experienced a marginal drop in the number of mobile subscriptions during the quarter under review,” says the CA report.
Airtel gained 0.1 per cent market share to stand at 19.2 per cent, Orange gained 0.8 per cent to settle at 12.4 per cent, while Finserve Africa Ltd (Equitel) acquired 0.8 per cent market share to stand at 3.7 per cent.
The authority has attributed the overall drop in the number of mobile subscriptions to the SIM box raids carried out in the period covered. However, Airtel, Orange and Equitel have, in the same period, introduced alluring voice and data products into the market, tapping into the unserved population.
The majority of products target youth who are first-time phone users and are attracted to affordable data and voice offers.
Airtel’s UnlimiNet, for instance, has posed stiff competition, allowing users to enjoy minutes, voice calls and SMSs to any network. It is at the moment the most affordable cross-network voice call in Kenya with rates as low as Sh1.7 per minute.
The product offers free WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, making it more popular. It caused stiff rivalry between Safaricom and Airtel, with the former poaching Mr Charles Wanjohi, the marketing director of Airtel to head its consumer segment department.
While at Airtel, Mr Wanjohi had led a team in coming up with the UnlimiNet data plan. The poaching, therefore, pointed towards the data price war between the two operators.
Orange has also been attracting new users to stay hooked to its network. Last year, it launched a firefox operating system smartphone priced at Ksh4,000, along with a dual SIM with 3G capacity.
