Airtel has so far signed 11,000 subscribers in Homabay County since the National Super Alliance called for a boycott against Safaricom and other corporates they claim are affiliated to the Jubilee administration.
South Nyanza Airtel Regional Manager Robert Mayabe says the area which covers Migori , Homabay, Nyamira and Kisii counties are now experiencing high demand for Airtel products following the quick response to their political leaders.
In Kisii, the telco has been registering 900 new sim cards on average per day since the Kisii county Governor James Ongwae sponsored the products for the area residents. According to Mayabe, the mobile operator is expecting to make high profits from this region in this period compared to previous years.
“We are targeting 1500 clients per day for three days to register in Kisii and have a backup of 800 more Airtel sim cards in case of shortage and later move to Nyamira and Migori counties,” he said.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich last week said the economic boycott called by the National Super Alliance will have no impact on the economy. Rotich who was reacting on NASA’s call on its supporters to shun Safaricom, milk processor Brookside and consumer goods manufacturer Bidco Kenya, says the boycott may do more harm than good to those it’s supposed to help.
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Speaking on the current economic status, Rotich termed the move as backward and has no place in modern Kenya. “It never happens in a progressive country at all to tell somebody, ‘don’t buy this or that,’ its completely ridiculous, I believe it will have no confidence,” he said.
NASA says the boycott is an act of economic sabotage against corporates they claim are affiliated to the Jubilee administration.
As at the end of June 2017, the number of mobile subscriptions stood at 40.2 million, according to the Communications Authority quarterly statistics.
The number of ported mobile numbers declined by 17.1 percent during the quarter under review to record 311 in-ports from 375 recorded in the preceding quarter. In the quarter of April to June 2017 Safaricom Limited registered an increase of 0.7 percentage points to stand at 72.6 percent with 29.2 million mobile subscriptions.
Finserve Africa Limited (Equitel) market share hit 4.6 percent posting 1.8 million subscriptions. Airtel Networks Limited registered a decline of 1.0 percentage points to record a market share of 15.3 percent posting a total of 6.1 million subscriptions.
