Safaricom hits 1 million home internet users. Now comes the hard part

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecoms provider, has achieved a major milestone by surpassing one million fixed broadband subscribers. As of June 2026, the company had 1,024,950 subscribers, marking a transformation from a nascent service to a significant growth driver in the market. This achievement has granted Safaricom a commanding 36.1% market share, reinforcing the success of its volume-led strategy.

The company's strategy relies on its existing mobile money and cellular networks, seamlessly integrating home broadband into its customer ecosystem. By leveraging its dominance in mobile subscriptions (control over 70% of mobile subscriptions) and mobile money (88% of mobile money transfers), Safaricom created a large customer base to seamlessly sell home internet services alongside mobile services.

The introduction of offerings like Family Share consolidated home broadband within mobile packages, making it challenging for customers to switch networks and forego these bundled benefits.

In April 2026, Safaricom took another significant step by doubling fibre speeds across most residential plans without raising prices. The 15 Mbps plan rose from 40 Mbps for KES 3,000 ($23) to 40 Mbps, while the 30 Mbps tier increased to 60 Mbps for KES 4,100 ($32). This strategy intensified competition in the fibre-to-the-home market, as the average revenue per user declined by 2.5% year-on-year to KES 2,297 ($17.73) in the latest financial year.