The number of mobile subscriptions in the country have risen to 40.2 million, the Communication Authority of Kenya reported on Friday
CAK said this has risen by 2.8 per cent from 39.1 million subscriptions recorded in the third quarter.
"When compared to the same period of the previous financial year, a growth of 1.2 per cent has been registered."
The mobile penetration level rose by 2.5 percentage points to stand at 88.7 from 86.2 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
Mobile money subscriptions stood at 28.0 million while the number of agents was registered at 180,657.
A total of 480.5 million transactions (withdrawals and deposits) valued at Sh1.2 trillion were made during the quarter.
Kenyans spent about sh692.1 billion to buy goods and services which involved 316.5 million mobile commerce transactions.
Person to person transfers were valued at Sh 541.8 billion.
"The positive growth witnessed in the mobile money transfer service was largely driven by the widespread use of mobile money solutions and adoption of the service among traditionally underserved groups (rural populations), and increasingly broad range of mobile money services (including insurance and loan products) in Kenya."
According to the report, Kenyans spent
42.7 billion minutes during 2016/17 financial year on calls, an increase of 2.6 per cent from 41.6 billion minutes recorded in the previous fiscal year.
They further sent 14.6 billion short Messaging Service (SMS) during the quarter under review increased significantly from 12.8 billion registered last quarter.
There are now 29.6 million internet subscribers from 25.7 million registered in the previous quarter with Safaricom retaining its top position with a 72.6 per cent market share.
This was a marginal increase of 0.7 per cent from 71.9 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
Subscriptions stood at 29.2 million, a 3.9 per cent jump from 28.1 million subscriptions recorded in the previous quarter.
"The growth was driven by 15.3 per cent increase of mobile data subscriptions to 29.4 million at the end of the quarter which accounted for approximately 99.0 per cent of total subscriptions. The internet/data penetration level rose to 64.8 per cent up from 56.6 per cent recorded during the previous quarter," the agency said.
The mobile sub-sector revenue amounted to Sh241.0 billion whereas Sh40.9 billion was used for Investment activities during the financial year.
Radio stations have risen to 178 stations as at
June 30, 2017 from 139 in the previous year.
The authority received a total of 24 applications in the quarter under review for tariffs and promotions and special offers.
Out of these, 4 were tariffs and 20 were promotions and special offers which were all reviewed and approved accordingly.