This article will evaluate the state of mobile penetration and uptake in Kenya, drawing from several data sources that examine mobile penetration, mobile internet usage, and mobile money. 

The Mobile Penetration Rate in Kenya

Gathering concrete data on Kenya’s mobile penetration rate is difficult, as independent studies define mobile penetration differently. However, using a combination of sources, we can approximate how prevalent mobile phones are in the market and how much mobile penetration is expected to grow over the coming years.

The World Bank’s pointer is mobile cellular subscriptions, which as per the latest data in 2019, places the figure at 104%. The Kenya Government’s Communications Authority defines mobile users by SIM penetration, and as of June 2020, reported a 119.9% mobile penetration, a 10% growth from the previous period. We must note that the extra penetration rate is driven, to no small extent, by the ownership of multiple SIM cards, as price-sensitive consumers take advantage of the different offers of the various mobile network providers.

GSMA defines mobile penetration by unique mobile subscribers to counter the drawback of counting total subscriptions, which stood at 59% in 2017. A study conducted by Pew Research in 2017 found that 80% of adults in Kenya reported owning a mobile phone, with 30% owning a smartphone and 50% owning a basic phone.

No matter how you look at it, Kenya’s mobile penetration is higher than the average of the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa and continues to snowball as more and more previously unconnected people, and regions in the country get access to mobile services. 5G technology is now being trialed in Kenya, and GSMA estimates that Kenya will have 7 million new mobile subscribers by 2025.  

Mobile Internet Usage in Kenya

In addition to the penetration of basic mobile services such as voice calls and SMS, it is essential to look at internet and smartphone penetration. Digital connectivity plays a vital role in transforming and improving lives, as it opens the door to employment, financial opportunities, and inclusion for people across the world. There has been a rapid growth in internet penetration in emerging regions over the last decade, with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) forecasting that more than 90% of all new internet users will come from emerging markets.

For a country that relies so heavily on the mobile phone, it is not surprising that internet access skews towards mobile internet in Kenya. The Kenya Digital Report found that 97% of all internet users in Kenya access the internet on mobile phones, with Kenyans spending over four and a half hours every day using the internet on their phones. As a segment of the overall population, GSMA places the mobile internet penetration rate in Kenya at 27% of the people, representing one of the highest five-year growth rates in Africa.

The growth in mobile internet use in Kenya correlates with a rise in smartphone usage, driven by the emergence of cheaper smartphones and a relatively young population actively looking for information and connection online. This prevalence of smartphones has gradually made Kenya a favorite launchpad for several mobile-based services, including mobile money, targeting the region. 

M-Pesa and Mobile Money Usage in Kenya

It is difficult to talk about mobile in Kenya without discussing mobile money. Kenya leads the world in the adoption of mobile money services, which enable sending and receiving of money through mobile-based accounts, with 96% of households owning a mobile money account.

Mobile money in Kenya is almost synonymous with M-Pesa (which means mobile money in Swahili), which refers to the global market leader in mobile money, Safaricom’s M-Pesa. M-Pesa holds a nearly universal market share of 98.9% of the Kenya mobile money market. Since its launch in 2007, M-Pesa, and by extension other mobile money providers, have contributed positively to Kenyans’ financial inclusion. Transactions performed on mobile money providers include paying for commodities and services, taking out loans, opening savings accounts, making payments for government services, and betting, among others. In an otherwise severely unbanked population, 73% of adults were financially included in 2017; and of these financial account holders, 98% held mobile money accounts.

Mobile money is so crucial to Kenya’s economy, with at least 50% of Kenya’s GDP flowing through mobile money, that most mobile money transactions were zero-rated to shield citizens from the effects of COVID-19. In GeoPoll’s 2020 Year-End survey, we found that customers were using mobile money more frequently in 2020 than in the previous year, likely driven by COVID-19 and a desire to use contactless payment methods.

Conclusion

The mobile phone has become essential for day-to-day life around the globe. As more and more people worldwide get connected to phone services, regions experience growth as it becomes easier for information to flow and citizens to access banking and other essential services. Casting a glance at mobile penetration levels in different areas globally, it becomes clear that countries with better mobile access rates are typically economically stronger than countries with less connectivity. This may probably be one of the keys to inclusive growth globally, as is apparent in Kenya. The growth of mobile penetration in Kenya has led to increased employment and income generation, which manifests as more people get access to phones.

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GeoPoll, whose largest office is based in Nairobi, leverages the growing power of mobile to conduct surveys throughout Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. We reach people on their own mobile devices through SMS surveys, voice calls, and web-based methodologies and conduct in-person surveys recorded on mobile devices to reach those who do not have access to their own mobile phones. For more information on our mobile methodology, please contact us today.

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Internet usage continues to grow, in large part due to increased smartphone penetration in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. As at March 2017, Nigeria has the highest number of internet users in Africa at 91.88 million, with 81 percent generated via smart phones. GSMA predicts that, in 2020, there will be more than 700 million smartphone connections in Africa.

In our previous segment in this series, we sought to understand perceptions of free speech as it relates to social media through a straw poll survey among 4,213 youth in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Read the report here.

In this segment, we explore insights into internet access, the role of the internet, and digital security among these same youth.

Data Costs & Affordability

Data costs continue to be a barrier to internet access for most Africans. Among countries surveyed, a majority of respondents in South Africa find the price of internet to be expensive (58%). A majority of Ghanaians (54%) also find their data costs high. More than half (52%) of respondents indicate that the cost of data in their county was affordable. However, 40 percent find the cost of internet data to be expensive.

South Africa has the lowest cost internet among the surveyed countries. Despite the lowest data cost compared to the other countries in the poll most South Africans feel that the cost is still quite high.

Youth on Social Media

Mobile data continues to be the most used means by which African millennials access the internet. In February 2017, GeoPoll conducted a rapid poll on mobile usage and media consumption: social network platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter form an integral part of everyday life with over 60 percent using social media as their primary source of information. Television comes a distant second at 25 percent, with newspapers being the least important source (6%).

Among the 4,213 respondents from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, 17 percent (one in five) of respondents indicate they post more than 20 times a week on social media. Ten percent said they posted to social media between 11 and 20 times; 28 percent post 6 to 10 times per week; and 45 percent post less than 5 times per week.

 Internet Access & Net Neutrality 

There are ongoing projects by Facebook and Google to provide free internet through initiatives such as Free Basics and Loon, respectively. We sought sentiments on access to internet and awareness of these initiatives.

In response to “Do you agree with this statement: ‘some form of internet is better than no internet at all’ 1) I completely agree 2) I somewhat agree 3) I disagree 4) I strongly disagree,” most respondents (55 percent) completely agreed with the statement.

With regard to internet access initiatives, GeoPoll found that the program with the largest awareness is Free Basics with 74 percent, followed by Project Loon by Google (25%). In Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, Free Basics has the highest awareness.

Digital Security 

GeoPoll found that 38 percent of respondents have used a digital security software before while 62 percent have not. Most South African respondents indicated using multiple types of digital security software at 42 percent when compared to other countries. Uganda has the highest number of users who have used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) in the past.  Antivirus software is the most known and widely used form of Digital security software among youth in the polled countries. There is still low awareness and usage of any other forms of Digital security software.

About GeoPoll Straw Polls

GeoPoll is the world’s largest real-time mobile survey platform, reaching a growing network of more than 320 million users in 31 countries worldwide on a deeply granular level and at unprecedented scale. Through partnerships with telecom providers—and a multimodal platform powered by text, voice and web-based communications—GeoPoll enables organizations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights on anything from consumer preferences to access to basic government services.

GeoPoll leverages its platform to engage mobile users through ad hoc “straw polls” that provide insights into real-time sentiments of current events. This GeoPoll rapid survey was conducted in April 2017 among 4,213 youth in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda using the GeoPoll mobile application.

Straw Poll Specs

• Countries surveyed: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda
• Language: English
• Mode: GeoPoll App
• Questionnaire length: 22 questions
• Median survey completion time: 20 minutes

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