Pyramid Research has described the Kenyan telecommunications sector as a powerhouse in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on network expansion and expected revenues over the next five years.
“The Kenyan telecommunications market is one of the most dynamic in Sub-Saharan Africa. With four fiercely competing operators (Safaricom, Airtel Kenya, Orange Kenya and Yu), the successful mobile money applications led by M-Pesa and the imminent deployment of LTE in 2013, Kenya is a critical region market for investors, operators and vendors,” the report indicates.
The Kenyan telecommunications market is set to see revenues of about KSh194 billion (US$1.7 billion) in 2017. By end of last year the sector managed to pull in KSh146 billion (US$1.7 billion).
As predicted in earlier research, voice will still hold the biggest market share despite price wars and other VoIP services. In 2012 revenue stood at US$1.1 billion.
Regardless of the steady voice revenue, most operators will still rely on mobile data to push their earnings. The report says the 3G network has seen great expansion thanks to the demand for mobile data. This has seen operators looking to dive into the LTE sector.
The report also says that Kenya will remain a mobile operator’s market. This segment will continue to hold the majority of revenues by 2017 with a 96 per cent share.
More products tied to the mobile phone are regularly unveiled, touching on various segments of the economy including banking, health and education. It is predicted that such services will push mobile revenues in the near futures.
