Kenya’s Telecom Sector Accelerates as Mobile Subscriptions Reach 84 Million
June 24th 2026
Kenya’s telecommunications sector continued its upward trajectory during the third quarter of the 2025/2026 financial year, supported by rising smartphone adoption, expanding high-speed mobile networks, and sustained demand for digital services.
According to the latest sector statistics report from the Communications Authority of Kenya, active mobile subscriptions increased by 7.4% to 84.1 million, lifting mobile penetration by 8.2 percentage points to 157.7%. The regulator attributed the growth primarily to customer win-back campaigns launched by mobile network operators during the reporting period.
Voice services remained resilient, with domestic mobile traffic growing by 2.6% to 32.3 billion minutes. On-net calls accounted for 27.1 billion minutes, while off-net traffic reached 5.2 billion minutes. Prepaid subscriptions continued to dominate the market, representing 96.5% of all mobile subscriptions. Average call durations remained stable at 1.8 minutes for on-net calls and 1.3 minutes for off-net calls.
Demand for mobile data and internet services also continued to rise. Total data and internet subscriptions increased by 1%, with 84.4% of subscribers accessing the internet through mobile broadband networks. The report highlighted the continued migration from legacy 2G and 3G technologies to faster 4G and 5G networks as consumers increasingly prioritize high-speed connectivity.
Mobile broadband data consumption reached 800 million gigabytes during the quarter, marking a 6% increase compared to the previous quarter. Average monthly data usage per subscription rose from 14.6 GB to 15.1 GB. Users connected to 5G networks recorded the highest consumption, averaging 53.5 GB per subscription. Meanwhile, machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions expanded by 8.8% to 2 million, reflecting growing adoption of connected devices and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The mobile money ecosystem also maintained steady growth. Active mobile money subscriptions climbed by 3.9% to 53.4 million, resulting in a penetration rate of 100.1%. Mobile device penetration reached 147.6%, with 78.7 million devices connected to mobile networks. Smartphones accounted for 63.7% of connected devices, highlighting Kenya’s continued transition toward internet-enabled devices and digital services.
The report also pointed to improvements in the country’s cybersecurity landscape. Cyber threats detected by the Kenya Incident Response Team Coordination Centre fell by 26.1% during the quarter to 3.4 billion incidents, down from 4.6 billion in the previous quarter, suggesting stronger cyber resilience and more effective threat detection and response capabilities.
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