Kenya hit 62 million internet subscribers, powered by 4G/5G network and smartphone surge

Internet subscribers in Kenya have increased by 2.9% to reach 61.994 million during the fourth quarter of 2025, attributed to the growing smartphone adoption and rise in market share of 4G/5G networks.

According to the latest industry data by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), smartphone users increased by 9.1% to 48.7 million in Q4 ’25, signalling an upward trend in the affordability rate and how Kenyans are increasingly penetrating the internet.  At the other end, feature phone users reduced by 2.6% to 24.6 million.

Smartphone adoption in the East African country has been driven by initiatives tailored to make it easier for people to move from feature phones to smartphones.

For instance, Safaricom’s pay-as-you-go models, Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, allow consumers to pay for devices in small daily or weekly instalments. This reduces the barrier to entry for low-income earners.

In addition, the high adoption rate is influenced by the need to access digital services and be financially included, cutting across operations such as mobile money services, e-commerce, and online banking.

4G/5G dictates in Kenyan internet space

Aside from smartphone adoption fueling the rise in internet users, new-age networks are increasingly controlling the market. 4G/5G networks continue to grow, as they jointly account for 45.9 million internet subscribers, a 73.9% market share. 

Specifically, the industry data shows that subscribers connected to 4G and 5G increased during the quarter to 44.2 million and 1.7 million, respectively. 2G and 3G networks continue to phase out as subscribers dropped to 10.4 million and 5.7 million, respectively. 

Kenyans’ data consumption during the quarter further reveals how 4G/5G networks are largely dictating the country’s internet space. 

While total data used in Q4 2025 accumulated to 755,095.1 terabytes (TB), 4G/5G networks fueled 93.4% of the consumption. In more detail, data consumption across 4G  and 5G were 624.8 TB and 80.5 TB, respectively. However, only 49.8 TB of data were consumed through 3G during the period under review. 

On the individual end, average mobile broadband consumption per subscription increased to 14.6 gigabytes (GB) from 14.3 GB as 5G users recorded the highest consumption at 46.5 GB.

Also Read: Understanding Kenya’s 373% internet subscribers growth in 6 years.

Telecom subscribers in Kenya

Total telecom subscribers have now reached 78.39 million in Kenya, a 0.1% from 78.32 million. This translated to a penetration rate of 149.4% as smartphone devices contributed 92.9%, while feature phones held 56.5%.

On market share, Safaricom leads with 66.8% (52.4 million), followed by Airtel’s 29.2% (22.9 million) and Finserve with 1.9% (1.5 million). Others are Jamii with 826,006, and Telkom with 744,902.

Also, mobile money subscriptions increased by 5.6% to 51.4 million from 48.6 million, showing a penetration rate of 98.0. Breakdown shows that Safaricom’s M-Pesa and Airtel’s Airtel Money dominated the market with 89% and 11% market share, respectively. 

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