Increased Investments Spurs Growth In Kenya’s ICT Sector – CA
Kenya’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, the Communications Authority (CA) says that this has been pushed by increased investments in the sector.
According to the latest CA sector statistics report, investments in the mobile sub-sector grew from KES 41.5 billion in 2017 to KES 57.5 billion in 2018.
The quality of internet service in Kenya has improved rapidly, access to 3G internet increased to 85 percent of Kenyans in 2017 from 67 percent in 2014.
According to the CA report, “Voice service held the highest revenue share at 39.0 percent followed by other mobile services, which includes mobile money services, interconnection, and roaming, at 33.0 percent. SMS revenue recorded the least share at 8.0 percent.”
The report further notes that data/internet subscriptions stood at 49.9 million with 99.9 percent being on mobile data, this was attributed to favorable government policies and dynamic digital scenes.
”For instance, the rapid growth in mobile and Internet networks has created opportunities for development and deployment of innovations and e-commerce,” the report noted.
The country has become a preferred destination for investors in various industries and an ICT hub in the region, this has mainly been characterized by expansion of fiber optic terrestrial network.
According to the Economic Survey Report 2019, total broadband volume spiked from 12.7 million in 2017 to 17.2 million Mbps in 2018 highlighting the growing demand and capacity of data.
The survey reveals that the value of the ICT sector grew by 12.9 percent in 2018 to reach KSh.390.2 billion up from KSh.345.6 billion recorded in 2017.
Employment in Kenya’s mobile money sector increased from 7,016 in June 2018 to 8,689 in June 2019.
This report is backed by another one by GSMA Intelligence which showed that Kenya has the second most improved mobile industry in Sub Saharan Africa, after Cameroon.
Featured Image Courtesy: Daily Nation
