Kenya - Economic survey shows half of populatio has a mobile phone

[daily nation] Half of all Kenyan's own mobile phones, the Economic Survey shows and ranks telecommunications as the economy's hottest growth sector.

The total number of mobile phone connections are nearly 20 million, and Safaricom, the market leader, has 15 million (about 78 per cent) while Zain Kenya has 14 per cent, Telkom four per cent, and Essar Yu one per cent.

Value added services such as money transfer have been one of the battlefronts in the business.

Money transfer subscribers increased to 7.7 million by December, 2009 from 5.5 million as at December, 2008.

Last year, the going live of two undersea fibre optic cables and another one expected next month has led to sharp reduction in bandwidth prices from $3,500 a year ago to under $500 per megabyte.

Analysts anticipate increased growth as more Kenyans are connected to the internet and mobile phones. Telecoms, grouped with transport, and storage has been one of the fastest growing segments of the economy.

In transport, railways performed poorly, declining further for the second consecutive year, with cargo decreasing from 1.8 million in 2008 to 1.4 million last year.

Kenya: Half of Kenyans Have Mobile Phones
see also highlights of economic survey