Kenya’s mobile subscriptions surged to 84.1 million in the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, marking a significant increase with 5.7 million new subscriptions in just three months. However, this growth contrasts with a decline in text messaging and voice usage. SMS traffic decreased by 2.7% to 13.98 billion messages, while average SMS usage per subscription dropped from 61 to 55 messages. Similarly, domestic mobile voice traffic reached 32.3 billion minutes, yet the average minutes per subscription fell.
Despite the rise in mobile subscriptions, mobile broadband continues to gain traction, with subscriptions climbing to 52.9 million and penetration reaching 99.2%. Total broadband consumption exceeded 800 million gigabytes, highlighting a shift in usage patterns. Activities traditionally reliant on SMS have migrated to chat applications, messaging platforms, and social media channels, impacting the average subscriber’s activity.
The growing adoption of smartphones, now at 50.2 million connections, further influences this trend. Smartphones provide access to various communication channels beyond SMS, altering user preferences. Although SMS and voice traffic remain substantial, the focus is shifting towards supporting the increasing demand for broadband and digital services. For telecom operators, future competition may hinge on their ability to cater to this demand, as connectivity increasingly supports high-bandwidth activities like video streaming, cloud services, and gaming.
