Safaricom Tightens Grip on Kenya’s Digital Economy as Starlink Emerges Among Top Ten ISPs

Kenya’s latest telecommunications sector data has underscored Safaricom PLC’s  position as the undisputed anchor of the country’s digital economy, while simultaneously revealing the early but notable footprint of Starlink Internet Services Kenya  in the fixed broadband market. The pairing frames two very different stories about connectivity in East Africa’s most advanced ICT market.

 

Safaricom’s Numbers Leave Little Room for Debate

According to the Communications Authority of Kenya’s Third Quarter Sector Statistics Report  for the Financial Year 2025/2026, covering January to March 2026, Safaricom held a 68.9 per cent share of mobile SIM subscriptions, 62.7 per cent of mobile broadband subscriptions, and 89.1 per cent of mobile money subscriptions during the period. In absolute terms, the operator accounted for 57.9 million of Kenya’s 84.1 million active mobile subscriptions, and generated 64.9 per cent of all domestic mobile voice traffic and a remarkable 93.9 per cent of all domestic SMS traffic.

On the fixed internet side, Safaricom led the market with 941,501 subscriptions, commanding a 35.4 per cent share, nearly double that of its nearest competitor, Jamii Telecommunications Ltd, which held 19.5 per cent.

The operator’s scale in mobile money is particularly striking. With an 89.1 per cent market share in a segment that now boasts 53.4 million active subscriptions and a penetration rate of 100.1 per cent, M-Pesa’s infrastructure continues to function as a de facto financial utility for the country.

 

Starlink Breaks Into Kenya’s Fixed Internet Top Ten

Against this backdrop of entrenched dominance, Starlink Internet Services Kenya’s appearance among the country’s ten largest fixed internet service providers by subscription is a signal worth noting. The CA report places Starlink eighth, with 24,999 subscriptions and a 0.9 per cent market share as at March 2026.

While that figure may appear modest in absolute terms, it arrives in a context that gives it greater weight. Satellite subscriptions recorded the fastest technology-level growth in the fixed internet segment during the quarter, rising 11.4 per cent, a trend the CA directly attributed to increased uptake of Low Earth Orbit satellite services. Kenya’s total available international bandwidth also grew 16.4 per cent to 28,130 Gbps during the same period, reflecting broader infrastructure expansion that LEO services are increasingly contributing to.

Starlink’s proposition targets a different geography from fibre-dependent providers. Where Safaricom, Jamii and Wananchi Group concentrate their fixed internet infrastructure in urban and peri-urban corridors, satellite connectivity reaches rural and remote users for whom terrestrial last-mile infrastructure remains economically or logistically unviable. In that sense, Starlink and Safaricom are not straightforwardly competing, at least not yet.

 

The Bigger Picture: A Market Expanding at Both Ends

Kenya’s overall fixed data and internet subscriptions grew 7.9 per cent to 2.66 million during the quarter, with fibre optic subscriptions reaching 1.47 million and terrestrial wireless at 950,317. The 10 to 30 Mbps speed band remained the most subscribed tier, reflecting the affordability and reliability threshold that most Kenyan consumers currently occupy.

Mobile broadband consumption reached 800 billion GB for the quarter, up 6.0 per cent, with 5G users averaging 53.5 GB per month, more than three times the overall average of 15.1 GB. Smartphone penetration continued to rise, with 50.2 million devices connected to Kenyan networks, against 28.5 million feature phones.

The data presents a market where Safaricom’s scale advantage compounds with each passing quarter, while new entrants like Starlink carve out positions in underserved segments that incumbent infrastructure has not yet reached. Whether that complementary dynamic holds as LEO coverage expands and device costs fall further remains one of the more consequential questions for Kenya’s digital economy heading into 2027.