Kenya’s mobile network added 75,000 new SIM subscriptions in the three months to December 2025, pushing the total to 78.4 million and lifting the penetration rate to 149.5% of the population, according to the Communications Authority’s Second Quarter Sector Statistics Report for the Financial Year 2025/2026.
The figures cover October to December 2025 and track supply-side performance across mobile, fixed, postal, broadcasting, spectrum and cybersecurity.
Table 1: Kenya ICT summary indicators — Q2 vs Q1 FY2025/26
| Indicator | Q2 Oct–Dec 25 | Q1 Jul–Sep 25 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total mobile SIM subscriptions | 78,390,421 | 78,315,384 | +0.1 |
| Mobile money subscriptions | 51,356,425 | 48,630,797 | +5.6 |
| Mobile money agents | 501,399 | 480,216 | +4.4 |
| Mobile data subscriptions | 61,994,599 | 60,269,091 | +2.9 |
| Mobile broadband subscriptions | 51,549,983 | 47,166,556 | +9.3 |
| Smartphones connected | 48,726,982 | 44,653,325 | +9.1 |
| Feature phones connected | 29,620,022 | 30,396,487 | −2.6 |
| Fixed data/internet subscriptions | 2,461,981 | 2,291,863 | +7.4 |
| Total available int’l bandwidth (Gbps) | 24,161.3 | 22,311.4 | +8.3 |
| Total used int’l bandwidth (Gbps) | 17,233.8 | 14,066.3 | +22.5 |
| DTT subscriptions | 932,538 | 944,913 | −1.3 |
| DTH subscriptions | 681,576 | 686,604 | −0.7 |
| .KE domain registrations | 118,171 | 115,653 | +2.2 |
| Total cyber threats detected | 4,559,259,985 | 842,320,667 | +441.3 |
| Cyber threat advisories issued | 21,814,618 | 19,951,154 | +9.3 |
Source: Communications Authority of Kenya, Q2 FY2025/26 Sector Statistics Report.
Mobile money surges on festive season spending
Mobile money recorded the sharpest growth of the quarter. Subscriptions climbed 5.6% to 51.4 million, pushing penetration to 98% of the population. The Authority attributed the jump to the festive season, which historically drives higher transaction volumes. The number of registered mobile money agents grew 4.4% to 501,399, expanding the cash-in and cash-out network across the country.
Safaricom’s M-PESA retained a commanding position, controlling 89% of all mobile money subscriptions. Airtel Money held 11%, while T-Kash registered negligible share.
Smartphones overtake feature phones as 4G and 5G gain ground
Kenya’s device mix shifted further toward smartphones in the quarter. Smartphone connections grew 9.1% to 48.7 million, while feature phone connections fell 2.6% to 29.6 million. Smartphones now account for 92.9% of all connected devices by penetration rate, against 56.5% for feature phones.
The shift in devices tracked closely with network technology trends. 4G subscriptions expanded to 44.2 million and 5G reached 1.7 million, while 2G and 3G subscriptions continued their decline. Total mobile data subscriptions grew 2.9% to 62 million, of which 83.2% used mobile broadband connections.
Mobile broadband consumption grew 12% to 755,095 terabytes for the quarter. The average consumption per subscription rose to 14.6 GB from 14.3 GB. Unsurprisingly, 5G users consumed the most data per subscription at 46.4 GB, more than three times the 4G average of 14.1 GB.
Safaricom dominates every mobile market segment
Safaricom held 66.8% of mobile SIM subscriptions, 64.3% of mobile broadband subscriptions and 89% of mobile money subscriptions. Airtel Kenya came second across all three categories with 29.2%, 32% and 11% respectively. Telkom Kenya, Finserve and Jamii Telecommunications each held shares below 2% across all segments.
In domestic voice traffic, Safaricom carried 66.23% of all minutes while Airtel carried 37.58%. The picture inverted for SMS, where Safaricom held 91.55% of all messages compared to Airtel’s 8.41%, reflecting M-PESA’s dominance in transaction confirmations and alerts.
Table 2: Mobile market shares by operator — December 2025
| Operator | SIM subscriptions | SIM share (%) | Broadband share (%) | Mobile money share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safaricom | 52,381,782 | 66.8 | 64.3 | 89.0 (M-Pesa) |
| Airtel Kenya | 22,927,287 | 29.2 | 32.0 | 11.0 (Airtel Money) |
| Telkom Kenya | 744,902 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — |
| Finserve (Equitel) | 1,510,444 | 1.9 | 1.2 | — |
| Jamii (JTL) | 826,006 | 1.1 | 1.6 | — |
| T-Kash | — | — | — | 0.0 |
Source: Communications Authority of Kenya
Safaricom Leads Kenya’s Network Rankings as Industry Performance Slides
Kenyans called more and texted less
Each subscriber made an average of 133.9 minutes of calls per month in the quarter, up from 127.5 minutes in Q1. SMS usage moved in the opposite direction, dropping to 61.1 messages per month from 62.4. The Authority noted that growing adoption of internet-based messaging services likely drove the SMS decline.
Total domestic voice traffic grew 5.2% to 31.5 billion minutes, with on-net calls accounting for 83.1% of all minutes. SMS traffic fell to 14.4 billion from 14.7 billion in the previous quarter.
International traffic: more incoming, less outgoing
International incoming mobile voice traffic grew 4% to 172.8 million minutes. Outgoing traffic fell 16.3% to 184.9 million minutes, driven by a 26.8% drop in calls to East African Community countries. EAC traffic accounted for 68.5% of incoming and 71% of outgoing international calls.
Fixed internet accelerates as fibre leads growth
Fixed data and internet subscriptions grew 7.4% to 2.46 million. Fibre connections drove the growth, rising 8.3% to 1.38 million and accounting for 56% of all wired subscriptions. Satellite connections grew fastest at 13.9%, reaching 22,513 subscriptions, a figure boosted by Starlink’s continued rollout.
Safaricom led the fixed internet market with 858,394 subscriptions and a 34.9% market share. Jamii Telecommunications held second place with 494,150 subscriptions and 20.1%. Poa Internet and Ahadi Wireless each held above 9%, signalling continued competition from smaller players in underserved areas.
International internet bandwidth capacity grew 8.3% to 24,161 Gbps. Utilised capacity grew faster at 22.5% to 17,234 Gbps, with 14,280 Gbps sold within Kenya and 2,954 Gbps transiting to other countries.
Table 3: Top 10 fixed internet providers — December 2025
| Provider | Subscriptions | Market share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Safaricom | 858,394 | 34.9 |
| Jamii Telecommunications | 494,150 | 20.1 |
| Wananchi Group | 272,802 | 11.1 |
| Poa Internet Kenya | 263,305 | 10.7 |
| Ahadi Wireless | 222,060 | 9.0 |
| Vilcom Network | 133,316 | 5.4 |
| Mawingu Networks | 92,016 | 3.7 |
| Starlink Internet Services Kenya | 22,282 | 0.9 |
| Dimension Data Solutions EA | 21,536 | 0.9 |
| Vijiji Connect | 18,200 | 0.7 |
| Others | 63,920 | 2.6 |
Source: Communications Authority of Kenya
Traditional fixed voice continues its long retreat
Fixed voice subscriptions painted a familiar picture of structural decline. Fixed VoIP subscriptions fell to 45,437 from 47,842, while fixed line and fixed wireless connections grew marginally to 6,486 and 1,664 respectively. Total domestic fixed voice traffic fell 7.7% to 1.04 million minutes as mobile continues to absorb the market.
Postal volumes fall across the board
The Kenya Post Office handled fewer items across every category. Domestic letters declined 1.2% to 142,356 while international outgoing letters fell 7.6% to 19,428. International incoming parcels posted the steepest decline at 17.7%. Private courier services told a different story: domestic parcels grew 14.1% to 3.9 million and international incoming parcels grew 12.3% to 150,625, pointing to e-commerce volumes shifting toward private operators.
Pay-TV loses subscribers as streaming competition grows
Total pay-television subscriptions fell 1% to 1.66 million. DTT subscriptions dropped 1.3% to 932,538, with both GoTV and StarTimes losing subscribers. DTH subscriptions eased 0.7% to 681,576, though Azam bucked the trend with 10.2% growth to 34,233 subscribers. Cable subscriptions grew 2.7% to 48,402.
Cyber threats surge 441% in a single quarter
The quarter’s most striking number sat in the cybersecurity data. Kenya’s national computer incident response team detected 4.6 billion cyber threat events between October and December 2025, a 441.3% increase from 842 million events recorded in the previous quarter. System vulnerabilities accounted for the vast majority, jumping 463.4% to 4.4 billion events. Distributed denial-of-service attacks surged 1,117% to 58.3 million.
The Authority pointed to three causes: inadequate system patching, insufficient awareness of phishing and social engineering attacks, and the growing use of artificial intelligence tools by malicious actors. In response, the Authority issued 21.8 million threat advisories, up 9.3% from 20 million the previous quarter.
Table 4: Cybersecurity threat landscape — Q2 vs Q1 FY2025/26
| Threat category | Q2 Oct–Dec 25 | Q1 Jul–Sep 25 | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| System vulnerabilities | 4,375,339,677 | 776,542,757 | +463.4 |
| Malware | 70,907,781 | 31,676,444 | +123.9 |
| DDoS attacks | 58,346,952 | 4,795,584 | +1,116.7 |
| Brute force attacks | 42,785,432 | 18,811,738 | +127.4 |
| Web application attacks | 11,570,134 | 10,417,253 | +11.1 |
| Mobile application attacks | 310,009 | 76,891 | +303.2 |
| Total threats | 4,559,259,985 | 842,320,667 | +441.3 |
| Total advisories issued | 21,814,618 | 19,951,154 | +9.3 |
Source: National KE-CIRT/CC
The .KE domain registry grew 2.2% to 118,171 registered users, led by CO.KE which added 2,231 new registrations to reach 104,972 users.
