Zuku Loses 12% Fibre Market Share As Safaricom Gain

Data from the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) indicates that zuku has fall behind it competitors led by safaricom and Jamii Telecom as competition stiffens in the fibre market Broadband market.

The firms market share has dropped 12 points in the past four years to 36 percent even though it still commands the market lead with 112,155 subscribers after growing it customers base by 438.

Safaricom’s market share grew from 19.4 percent in the last quarter to 21.2 percent by June on the back of aggressive marketing that added 14,537 fixed internet customers between March and June, to hit a total of 78,104 users.

Mawingu Networks, an affordable internet service in which tech giant Microsoft has a 10 per cent stake, is in third place with 21.1 percent market share.

Jamii Telecommunications is fourth with 43,529 subscribers, an 11.8 percent market share.

The trend comes as Safaricom and Mawingu expand their service coverage amid ongoing shareholder wrangles at Wananchi Group, which spearheaded the ISP business in Kenya almost two decades ago.

According to a Bloomberg media report, the Zuku parent firm is also looking to exit the Kenyan market after the troubled company contracted US consultant Lizard Limited to work on the modalities of a potential sale plan.

Fibre internet and terrestrial wireless data subscriptions have more than doubled in the quarter under review due to increased uptake of video streaming services locally.

“High speed fibre subscriptions doubled … driven by high demand for high video definition streaming and increased competition among service providers. Fixed wireless data increased … this is mainly attributed to the increasing demand for availing WI-Fi services … especially in public institutions and corporates,” said the CA report.