Airtel’s market share for calls has fallen for the third consecutive quarter, hurting the telco’s efforts to close the gap on the dominant Safaricom #ticker:SCOM.
Data from the Communications Authority (CA) shows that the telco’s share of the voice market fell to 27.1 percent or 5.3 billion minutes in the quarter ended March from 28.5 percent (5.6 billion minutes) in December.
Airtel’s share of the voice market has been falling since September when it stood at 32.1 percent as the telco’s rival Safaricom continues to cement its dominance in the sector.
Safaricom increased its dominance to 70.9 percent or 13.8 billion minutes in the period under review from 64.7 percent (11.8 billion minutes) in September last year.
The drop in the talk-time on Airtel’s network came at a time the minutes spent by callers declined by four percent on expiry of offers on call tariffs.
“Local mobile voice traffic dropped by 0.9 percent to 19.5 billion minutes. The decline is mainly attributed to conclusions of “Safaricom@20 Promotion” that ended on January 20th 2021,” CA says in the report.
The total talk time in the quarter ended March dropped marginally to 19.5 billion minutes from 19.6 billion minutes in December.
The drop in Airtel’s share of the voice market highlights the telco’s struggles to woo callers through reduced call tariffs like its rival, Safaricom.
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