Kenya Mobile Subscriptions Jump 7.4% to 84.1 Million in Q3 2025/26 – CA Report

Kenya’s telecommunications sector recorded strong growth during the third quarter of the 2025/2026 financial year, driven by increased smartphone adoption and continued investment in high-speed mobile network infrastructure. According to the latest sector statistics report  released by the Communications Authority of Kenya, active mobile subscriptions rose by 7.4% to 84.1 million, pushing mobile penetration up by 8.2 percentage points to 157.7%. The regulator attributed the growth largely to aggressive customer win-back campaigns undertaken by mobile network operators during the quarter.

Voice communication remained robust, with total domestic mobile voice traffic increasing by 2.6% to 32.3 billion minutes. On-net calls accounted for 27.1 billion minutes, while off-net calls reached 5.2 billion minutes. Prepaid subscriptions continued to dominate the market, representing 96.5% of all mobile subscriptions. The average call duration remained unchanged from the previous quarter, with on-net calls averaging 1.8 minutes and off-net calls averaging 1.3 minutes.

Mobile data and internet usage also continued to expand, although at a slower pace. Data and internet subscriptions grew by 1%, with 84.4% of subscribers accessing services through mobile broadband networks. The report highlighted an ongoing migration from legacy 2G and 3G networks to more advanced 4G and 5G technologies as consumers increasingly seek faster and more reliable connectivity.

Data consumption rose significantly during the quarter, with mobile broadband usage reaching 800 million gigabytes, representing a 6% increase compared to the previous quarter. Average data consumption per subscription increased from 14.6GB to 15.1GB. Users connected to 5G networks recorded the highest average consumption, using 53.5GB per subscription. Meanwhile, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) subscriptions, which support automated communication between connected devices, grew by 8.8% to reach 2 million subscriptions.

The mobile money sector also maintained its growth trajectory. Active mobile money subscriptions increased by 3.9% to 53.4 million, translating into a penetration rate of 100.1%. Mobile device penetration reached 147.6%, supported by 78.7 million devices connected to mobile networks. Smartphones accounted for 63.7% of all mobile devices connected to the networks, underscoring the country’s continued shift toward internet-enabled devices and digital services.

On the cybersecurity front, the report showed an improvement in the threat landscape. The number of cyber threats detected by the Kenya Incident Response Team Coordination Centre declined by 26.1% during the quarter to 3.4 billion incidents, down from 4.6 billion threats recorded in the preceding quarter, indicating progress in cyber threat management and response efforts.