Safaricom’s Kenya Market Slips to 63% as Bharti Gains Ground

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Safaricom Plc’s market share of Kenyan mobile-phone subscriptions dropped for a sixth consecutive quarter as competition heats up, according to data from the industry regulator.

Safaricom, East Africa’s biggest company by valuation and a unit of Vodacom Group Ltd., recorded a market share of 63 percent in 2018, compared with 69 percent during the previous year, according to the Communications Authority.

Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s local unit, which agreed to merge operations with Telkom Kenya Ltd., saw user numbers rise to 23 percent from 17 percent, the regulator said in a report on its website. Telkom’s subscribers remained unchanged at 9 percent, Finserve Africa Ltd.’s share slipped to 4.2 percent from 4.5 percent, while that of Mobile Pay Ltd. was unchanged at 0.2 percent, it said.

Safaricom would still be almost twice the size of a combined rival if the merger plans are concluded. Its market share has been dropping since the July-September 2017 quarter when it declined to 72 percent from 73 percent in the previous three-month period, according to the regulator. Safaricom’s shares advanced 0.5 percent to 28.05 shillings by 2:03 p.m. in the capital, Nairobi, boosting gains this year to 26 percent.

Mobile-phone subscriptions in East Africa’s largest economy increased almost 16 percent last year to 49.5 million, boosting penetration to 106 percent due to ownership of multiple SIM cards.

The number of active mobile-money subscriptions during the period grew 5.3 percent to 31.6 million, while the value of person-to-person transactions surged 91 percent to 2.1 trillion shillings ($20.8 billion).

Source: Bloomberg Business News