Airtel loses about 130,000 customers in three months

Airtel whose market share was at one point boosted by the acquisition of the since defunct Yu Mobile’s subscribers, has struggled to compete in a market that is under the iron-grip of Safaricom. The operator that has decried what it insists is the country’s anti-competitive environment also shed subscribers in March PHOTO: COURTESY

More than 130,000 subscribers ditched Airtel Kenya’s network between April and June as the going gets tough for the Indian-owned telecommunications firm.

According to the latest data from the Communications Authority (CA), Airtel’s subscriptions dropped from 6,722,412 in March 2016 to 6,588,825 as at end of June 2016, as the operator relinquished 0.9 per cent of its market share.

Airtel whose market share was at one point boosted by the acquisition of the since defunct Yu Mobile’s subscribers, has struggled to compete in a market that is under the iron-grip of Safaricom. The operator that has decried what it insists is the country’s anti-competitive environment also shed subscribers in March.

In that quarter, total subscriptions for Airtel decreased by 7.1 per cent from 7.2 million recorded in December 2016 to 6.7 million subscriptions in March 2016. This means in total, the operator has lost 647,699 in six months to June 2016.

Airtel’s loss in the fourth quarter came at a time when total mobile subscriptions in the industry recorded a 3.7 per cent increase to 39.7 million up from 38.3 million registered in the previous quarter.

“Airtel’s total mobile subscriptions stood at 6.5 million during the quarter under review, a decline of 2.0 per cent when compared to 6.7 million subscriptions recorded in the previous quarter. Its pre-paid subscriptions declined by 2.1 per cent while post-paid subscriptions increased by 1.4 per cent,” read the report which is compiled from returns made by individual operators.

Telkom Kenya, which was acquired by British private equity firm Helios after the exit of French firm Orange, saw its total subscriptions increase by 428,722 to improve its market share to 13.2 per cent from 12.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

M-BANKING SERVICES

Equity Bank’s Equitel recorded an increase of 19.7 per cent adding 331,990 subscribers to its total subscriber base which stood at 1,683,362 as at end of March.

Sema Mobile, a new MVNO in Kenya, increased its total subscription from 158 to 278 as it looks to share the spoils in the country’s most lucrative sector.

In its quarterly financial report, CA attributed the increased mobile subscriptions to “proliferation of mobile data services such as, m-commerce and m-banking services as well as hand set affordability.”

Although Safaricom Limited marginally lost its mobile subscriptions market share from 65.6 per cent to 65.2 per cent during the quarter under review, it experienced a net additions to its subscriber base.

The listed firm’s total subscriptions stood at 25.9 million during the period under review-an increase of 3.1 per cent when compared to 25.1 million subscribers recorded in the previous quarter.