While Safaricom remains the market leader in Kenya’s telecommunications sector, and by a wide margin, fresh data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that its grip is gradually loosening, as Airtel closes the gap in both subscriber numbers and usage metrics.
- •After a back-to-back drop in market share, Safaricom’s subscriber base increased by 1 million in the first three months of 2025, representing 63.3% of the market — its lowest in recent years- and a continued slide from 65.3% in December 2024 and 65.7% in September 2024.
- •In contrast, Airtel Kenya added nearly 3 million new subscribers in the same period, boosting its market share to a record-high 32.2% with a total of 24.53 million subscriptions.
- •Telkom Kenya, Equitel (Finserve), and Jamii Telecommunications maintained marginal shares of 1.5%, 2.0%, and 0.9% respectively.
Kenya Mobile Operator Subscriber Count and Market Share Trends (Q4 FY2023 – Q3 FY2024):
| Operator | Q4 (Jun ’24) | Q1 (Sep ’24) | Q2 (Dec ’24) | Q3 (Mar ’25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safaricom | 45.08M (65.4%) | 45.94M (65.7%) ▲ | 46.57M (65.3%) ▼ | 48.24M (63.3%) ▼ |
| Airtel | 20.29M (29.5%) | 20.74M (29.6%) ▲ | 21.52M (30.2%) ▲ | 24.53M (32.2%) ▲ |
| Telkom | 1.48M (2.1%) | 1.17M (1.7%) ▼ | 1.17M (1.6%) ▼ | 1.17M (1.5%) ▼ |
| Equitel | 1.45M (2.1%) | 1.50M (2.1%) → | 1.46M (2.0%) ▼ | 1.51M (2.0%) → |
| JTL (Faiba) | 0.59M (0.9%) | 0.62M (0.9%) → | 0.67M (0.9%) → | 0.71M (0.9%) → |
| Total Market | 68.89M | 69.97M | 71.38M | 76.16M |
Overall,
Domestic Voice and SMS Usage Trends
Kenya’s total mobile subscriptions rose to 76.16 million by March 2025, up from 71.38 million in the previous quarter. Outgoing voice traffic rose to 28.88 billion minutes in Q1 2025 from 27.41 billion minutes the previous quarter, while outgoing SMS increased slightly to 14.38 billion messages from 14.13 billion.
Safaricom accounted for 63.4% of voice traffic, followed by Airtel at 36.2%. Other operators had negligible contributions. On SMS, Safaricom held an even larger share of 89.5%, with Airtel at 10.9%.
Usage Patterns and Call Duration
Airtel recorded the highest average on-net call duration at 2.9 minutes per call, well above the market average of 1.8 minutes. Safaricom and Jamii Telecom posted the highest off-net call durations at 1.4 minutes, matching the market average.
Average Minutes of Use (MoU) per Call – Q1 2025
| Operator | On-net (mins) | Off-net (mins) |
| Safaricom PLC | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Airtel Networks Limited | 2.9 | 1.3 |
| Telkom Kenya Limited | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Finserve (Equitel) | 2.0 | 1.3 |
| Jamii Telecommunications | 0.1 | 1.4 |
| Market Average | 1.8 | 1.3 |
