Abstract
Report Description
This annual report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and
developments in Kenya' s telecommunications market.
Subjects covered include:
- One of the most competitive mobile markets in the region;
- Key statistics;
- Market and industry overviews;
- Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
- Market liberalisation and regulatory issues;
- Telecoms operators - privatisation, acquisitions, new licences;
- Major players (fixed, mobile and broadband);
- Infrastructure development;
- Mobile voice and data markets, including 3G;
- Average Revenue per User;
- Internet development;
- Broadband, including 3G mobile;
- Convergence (voice/data, fixed/wireless/mobile);
- The emergence of e-commerce, e-learning and e-government services.
Executive Summary
Massive jump in mobile data revenue from broadband and m-banking services
Kenya' s telecommunications and broadband market is undergoing a revolution
following the arrival of three fibre-optic international submarine cables in
2009 and 2010 (Seacom, TEAMS and EASSy), ending its dependency on limited and
expensive satellite bandwidth. Bandwidth prices had already fallen
significantly following the liberalisation of international gateway and
national backbone network provision in 2005, but they have now fallen by more
than 90%, enabling cheaper tariffs for telephone calls and broadband internet
services. However, ISPs have only reluctantly passed on the cost savings to
end customers, which has prompted the industry regulator, the Communications
Commission of Kenya to consider price caps. In parallel, the regulator has
mandated price cuts on interconnection tariffs and proposed new competition
regulations.
Companies that started out as ISPs - such as AccessKenya, Kenya Data Networks
(KDN) and Wananchi - are transforming themselves into second-tier telecom
companies by rolling out national and metropolitan fibre backbones and
wireless broadband access networks, offering converged voice, data and
video/entertainment services. At least six major deployments of WiMAX
technology are underway, and third-generation mobile broadband services with
up to 7.2Mb/s have been launched. Advanced services such as IPTV/triple play,
e-commerce, e-learning and e-government are now rapidly evolving.
The country' s incumbent fixed-line telco, Telkom Kenya, is revamping its
infrastructure and services under the Orange brand with fresh capital from its
new majority shareholder, France Telecom, and it has also re-entered the
mobile market. A simplified and converged licensing regime introduced in 2008
has lowered the barriers to market entry and increased competition by allowing
operators to offer any kind of service in a technology- and service-neutral
regulatory framework. Several fibre infrastructure-sharing agreements have
been forged.
A price war has characterised Kenya' s mobile communications market since 2008,
following the market entry of the third and fourth network, Econet Wireless
Kenya (in which India' s Essar acquired a stake), and Telkom Kenya under the
Orange brand. Subscriber growth is now forecast to slow gradually over the
coming years, and rapidly falling ARPU levels have driven one of the
incumbents, Zain (which was subsequently acquired by Bharti Airtel), deeper
into negative earnings, leaving only the market leader, Safaricom, with a net
profit, although reduced. Financial performance has improved again in the
2010/11 financial year.
The operators are developing new revenue streams from third generation
broadband and mobile banking services. The leading operator has begun LTE
trials. With market penetration rates in Kenya' s broadband and traditional
banking sector still very low, the mobile networks have an opportunity to
relive the phenomenal growth rates seen in the voice sector in recent years.
This report contains an overview of Kenya' s mobile, fixed-line, internet and
broadband market, profiles of the major players in all market sectors,
relevant statistics, analysis, and mobile subscriber forecasts for 2013 and
2016.
Market highlights:
- Decreasing ARPU under intense competition between four mobile networks;
- Improving financial performance despite price war;
- Jump in mobile data revenue from broadband and m-banking services;
- Arrival of international fibre bandwidth in 2009 and 2010 has
revolutionised the market;
- Competing national fibre backbones enabling converged voice, data and
video services at lower prices;
- Profiles of major players in all market sectors;
- The rebirth of Telkom Kenya under the Orange brand;
- The emergence of new second-tier telcos;
- Fibre infrastructure sharing agreements;
- LTE trials;
- Forecasts for Kenya' s mobile market to 2013 and 2016.
Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may
not be for the current year.
Table of Contents
1. Key Statistics
2. Telecommunications Market
- 2.1 Overview of Kenya' s telecom market
3. Regulatory Environment
- 3.1 Kenya Communications Act 1998
- 3.2 Regulatory authority
- 3.2.1 Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK)
- 3.3 Revised Telecommunications Market Structure 2004
- 3.4 Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2009
- 3.5 Universal Service Fund (USF)
- 3.6 Tariff regulation
- 3.7 Interconnection
- 3.8 Number portability
- 3.9 Foreign ownership
- 3.10 New competition regulations 2010
- 3.11 Telecom sector liberalisation in Kenya
- 3.11.1 Regional telecom licences
- 3.11.2 Second national operator (SNO) licensing
- 3.11.3 International gateway licences
- 3.11.4 VoIP telephony
- 3.11.5 Converged licensing regime since 2008
- 3.11.6 BPO subsidies
4. Fixed Network Operators
- 4.1 Telkom Kenya (Orange Kenya)
- 4.1.1 Fixed-line statistics
- 4.1.2 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
- 4.1.3 Tariffs
- 4.1.4 ARPU
- 4.1.5 Privatisation
- 4.2 Fixed-wireless operators
- 4.3 Kenya Data Networks (KDN)
- 4.4 Jamii Telecom
- 4.5 AccessKenya
5. Telecommunications Infrastructure
- 5.1 National fibre backbone infrastructure
- 5.1.1 Telkom Kenya
- 5.1.2 KDN
- 5.1.3 Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC)
- 5.1.4 Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC)
- 5.1.5 Fibre infrastructure sharing
- 5.2 International infrastructure
- 5.2.1 Satellite
- 5.2.2 Terrestrial fibre
- 5.2.3 Submarine fibre
6. Internet Market
- 6.1 Overview
- 6.1.1 Internet statistics
- 6.2 Limited availability of PCs
- 6.3 Public internet access locations
- 6.4 Internet backbone infrastructure
- 6.4.1 Telkom Kenya, JamboNet
- 6.4.2 Additional international data carrier licences
- 6.4.3 Public data network operators (PDNO)
- 6.4.4 Unified licensing regime since 2008
- 6.4.5 National fibre backbone networks
- 6.4.6 International fibre
- 6.5 Internet exchange points (IXP)
- 6.6 Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC)
- 6.7 ISP market
- 6.7.1 Africa Online Kenya
- 6.7.2 AccessKenya
- 6.7.3 Wananchi Online
- 6.7.4 MTN Business Kenya (formerly UUNet)
- 6.7.5 Swift Global
- 6.7.6 InterConnect, Internet Solutions Kenya
- 6.7.7 Orange Kenya (Telkom)
7. Broadband Market
- 7.1 Overview
- 7.2 ADSL
- 7.3 Wireless broadband
- 7.3.1 WiFi
- 7.3.2 WiMAX
- 7.3.3 Mobile data services
- 7.4 Broadband via satellite
- 7.5 Leased lines
8. Digital Media / Digital Economy
- 8.1 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony
- 8.1.1 New VoIP guidelines 2005
- 8.1.2 VoIP licences
- 8.2 IPTV, triple play
- 8.3 Internet TV
- 8.4 Digital TV
- 8.5 E-learning
- 8.5.1 National research and education network (NREN)
- 8.6 E-commerce
- 8.7 E-government
- 8.8 Blogs
- 8.9 Facebook
9. Mobile Communications
- 9.1 Overview of Kenya' s mobile market
- 9.2 Regulatory issues
- 9.2.1 Interconnection
- 9.2.2 International gateways
- 9.2.3 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
- 9.2.4 Quality of Service (QoS) control
- 9.2.5 Registration of subscriber details
- 9.2.6 Taxes
- 9.2.7 Tariff regulation
- 9.3 Major mobile operators
- 9.3.1 Safaricom Ltd
- 9.3.2 Bharti Airtel Kenya (formerly Zain, Celtel, KenCell)
- 9.3.3 Essar Telecom Kenya (Yu, formerly Econet)
- 9.3.4 Orange Kenya (Telkom Kenya)
- 9.4 Mobile voice services
- 9.4.1 Prepaid cards
- 9.4.2 Special regional tariffs
- 9.4.3 International roaming
- 9.4.4 VoIP
- 9.4.5 Flashback
- 9.4.6 GSM community phones
- 9.4.7 Price war 2008-2010
- 9.4.8 Low-cost handsets
- 9.4.9 Satellite mobile
- 9.5 Mobile data services
- 9.5.1 SMS
- 9.5.2 MMS
- 9.5.3 GPRS and EDGE
- 9.5.4 BlackBerry
- 9.6 3G
- 9.7 LTE (4G)
- 9.8 Mobile money transfer, m-banking
- 9.8.1 M-Pesa (Safaricom)
- 9.8.2 ZAP (Zain)
- 9.8.3 yuCash (Essar)
- 9.8.4 Orange Money
- 9.8.5 Other services
- 9.9 Mobile TV
10. Forecasts
- 10.1 Forecast mobile subscribers - 2013; 2016
11. Glossary of Abbreviations
LIST OF TABLES:
- Table 1 - Country statistics Kenya - 2010
- Table 2 - Fixed-line statistics - 2010
- Table 3 - Internet provider statistics - 2010
- Table 4 - Internet user statistics - 2010
- Table 5 - Mobile statistics - 2010
- Table 6 - National telecommunications authority
- Table 7 - Fixed lines in service and annual teledensity - 1999 - 2012
- Table 8 - Internet users and penetration rate - 1999 - 2012
- Table 9 - AccessKenya corporate leased-line customers - 2006 - 2009
- Table 10 - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1999 - 2012
- Table 11 - Mobile subscribers by operator and quarterly change - September
2010
- Table 12 - Safaricom ARPU - 2007 - 2010
- Table 13 - Zain Kenya ARPU - 2006 - 2009
- Table 14 - Forecast mobile subscribers - 2013; 2016
LIST OF CHARTS:
- Chart 1 - Fixed lines in service and annual teledensity - 1999 - 2012
- Chart 2 - Internet users and penetration rate - 1999 - 2012
- Chart 3 - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 1999-2012
- Chart 4 - Mobile subscribers by operator - September 2010
LIST OF EXHIBITS:
- Exhibit 1 - The CCK coup of 2005
- Exhibit 2 - Emergency rescue scheme for Lake Victoria
- Exhibit 3 - Texting elephants
- Exhibit 4 - Job offers by SMS
Kenya - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts published by Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd. in May 23, 2012. This report consists of 91 Pages and the price starts from US $ 695.
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