Kenya's mobile phone subscribers rise to 39.7 million

The number of mobile subscribers in Kenya rose to 39.7 million at the end of June, up 9.9 percent from April, the country's telecom industry regulator said on Friday.

Statistics from the Communications Authority of Kenya show that the mobile penetration level hit 90 percent, having grown by 6.1 percentage points during the April-June period.

"The continued growth in mobile subscriptions has been driven by proliferation of mobile data services," the regulator said in a report.

The report covering the period April to June indicates data/Internet market subscriptions rose by 8.2 percent to reach 26.8 million during the quarter under review, up from 24.8 million subscriptions recorded at the previous quarter.

The period also saw a total of 227.3 million mobile commerce transactions made translating to the cost of goods and services valued at 4.04 billion U.S. dollars purchased. Person-to-person money transfers recorded in the period were valued at 4.29 billion dollars.