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Jamii Telecommunications Limited (JTL) has upped competition in the fixed internet market   with additional 61,810 new users.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that JTL, which sells its fixed internet through the Faiba brand, increased its market share by 3.1 percentage points to 21.9 percent.

JTL is now giving Safaricom and Wananchi Group’s Zuku a run for their money. Safaricom’s market cut declined by 2.4 percentage points to 34.3 percent, while Zuku’s share dropped by 1.7 percentage points to 27.9 percent.

The three companies control the fixed data market, commanding up to 85.1 percent stake, with Poa Internet Kenya controlling 10.3 percent, up from 8.9 percent in June 2021.

The CA data shows that Safaricom installed 44,723 new connections in the period, taking its total to 314,120, while Zuku added 38,606 to reach 255,906.

JTL attracted 61,810 new users, bringing its total to 200,079. On its part, Poa had 94,699 users during the period, up from 65,129 a year earlier.

The adoption of fixed internet in Kenya has been on an upward trend, by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when many people started working remotely. Online learning also went up during the period when schools were closed.  This meant more uptake of internet services.

Safaricom first took the top spot in the quarter ending September 2019 from Zuku, but the latter reclaimed dominance in the subsequent quarter ending December 2019.

The giant telco, however, moved ahead once again by mid-2021, riding on an aggressive marketing drive and pricing offers after Covid. It provided its users with double bandwidth, as a way of supporting the government’s call on Kenyans to work from home.