Telecommunications market of KenyaPhone Cards, Calling Cards |
| Telkom Kenya’s monopoly in Internet backbone and international bandwidth services ended in 2004 and several new data carriers have been licensed. There are 72 licensed ISPs of which about half are operational. ADSL and wireless broadband technologies have been introduced, and VoIP Internet telephony has been liberalised, promising to bring the long-awaited reduction of international and long-distance calling rates. A WiMAX network is being rolled out with the aim of providing converged voice, data and video/broadband TV (triple-play) services. |
| 2005 has been a year of uncertainty for the Kenyan telecommunications market, but the path of liberalisation taken by the country’s regulator seems irreversible. The planned licensing of a Second National Operator (SNO) was aborted in 2004, the privatisation of a majority stake in Telkom postponed to 2006, and the validity of the country’s third mobile licence is still uncertain. At the same time, however, the ban on VoIP has been lifted and Telkom Kenya’s monopoly in the provision of Internet backbone and international bandwidth services broken, immediately leading to massive price reductions and better services in these sectors. And yet, enormous further potential remains, with mobile and fixed-line penetration only at around 15% and 1%, respectively. |
| Kenya’s mobile market has witnessed phenomenal growth rates since the second GSM operator launched in 2000. Mobile phones now outnumber fixed lines by around 20:1. Enormous further potential remains, with mobile penetration at only around 15%. Both operators are carrying out massive network expansion programs. Econet Wireless won the bid for the country’s third GSM licence in 2003, but the licensing process has since been challenged in court. Mobile number portability and the permission for mobile networks to operate their own international gateways from 2006 are expected to give further impetus to the market. |
| Kenya Phone Cards |