Why Kenyans Make More Calls to Uganda Than Tanzania- Report

From Left, Kenyan President William Ruto, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu during a past regional event.
From Left, Kenyan President William Ruto, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu during a past regional event.
Eabw News

A report by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) released on Thursday, April 13 detailed that Kenyans made more calls and SMSs to Ugandans than to Tanzania in the last three months of 2022.

In the report, Uganda led followed by South Sudan and Rwanda. Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo had the least recorded data.

The report collected data in the last quarter of 2022 between October and December.

"Notably, both inbound and outbound traffic from Tanzania and Burundi remained low, which is attributed to the fact that the two countries are yet to join the One Network Area (ONA) initiative in the region," the report detailed.

President William Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.jpg
President William Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during a meeting in Uganda in August 2022
Photo
Yoweri Museveni

The initiative in East Africa aims to promote regional integration by bringing down the cost of mobile roaming.

According to the report in the outbound roaming traffic, there were at least 125 million incoming voice calls in minutes while Tanzania only had 278,324 minutes.

In the inbound roaming traffic, Uganda had at least 26 million incoming voice calls in minutes while Tanzania had 93,906 minutes.

The report further revealed that the number of phones in Kenya rose to 63.3 million. Of the 63.3 million 53.1 per cent were feature phones while 46.9 per cent were smartphones.

"This trend indicates an increasing demand and uptake of smartphones mainly driven by demand for broadband-enabled services and accessibility to devices," read part of the report.

Additionally, according to the report, Kenyans used less and less SMS, and a shift to (Over the Top) OTT channels like WhatsApp was noted.

CA reported that international incoming and outgoing mobile SMS declined by 5.6 and 6.1 per cent to 8.6 million and 4.7 million messages respectively.

"This is because of the availability of lucrative special offers and promotions for data bundles that facilitate access to OTTs," CA stated.

An image of social media icons on a mobile phone.
An image of social media icons on display on a mobile phone.
Anadolu Agency