Airtel Kenya Plans Entry Into Home Fibre Market

AFRICAN BUSINESS AND ECONOMYSeptember 11, 2025 at 12:57 PM UTC

TLDR

Airtel Kenya will launch a home fibre service to compete with Safaricom, Jamii Telecom’s Faiba, Zuku, and Poa Internet in the country’s fast-growing broadband market
Managing director Ashish Malhotra said the rollout is in progress and will be announced “soon,” alongside new home hardware
The move expands Airtel’s portfolio beyond mobile data, where it gained 3 million new subscribers in Q1 2025

Airtel Kenya will launch a home fibre service to compete with Safaricom, Jamii Telecom’s Faiba, Zuku, and Poa Internet in the country’s fast-growing broadband market.

Managing director Ashish Malhotra said the rollout is in progress and will be announced “soon,” alongside new home hardware. He spoke on Wednesday during the groundbreaking for Airtel’s 44MW data centre at Tatu City outside Nairobi.

Kenya had 1.86 million fixed broadband subscriptions in March 2025, up from 1.3 million a year earlier, according to the Communications Authority. Safaricom leads with 678,118 subscriptions, followed by Faiba at 418,309, Zuku with 14.4%, and Poa Internet at 14.1%. Airtel has so far only offered fixed wireless broadband at KES 2,000 ($15.40) for unlimited 15 Mbps.

The move expands Airtel’s portfolio beyond mobile data, where it gained 3 million new subscribers in Q1 2025, raising its base to 24.5 million, or 32.2% of the mobile market.

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Key Takeaways

Airtel’s entry into fibre comes at a time when fixed broadband is one of the fastest-growing segments of Kenya’s telecom industry. With mobile voice revenues flattening and mobile data growth slowing, operators are turning to home internet to sustain earnings. Safaricom has treated fibre as a defensive play to secure household spending, while smaller providers like Zuku and Faiba have used aggressive pricing to build market share. Airtel’s nationwide distribution, existing mobile subscriber base, and lower-cost positioning through Airtel Money could allow it to scale faster than rivals. Its investment in a 44MW data centre also signals an intent to capture both consumer and enterprise demand for digital services. The challenge will be in execution: fibre rollouts are capital-intensive and require reliable customer service. If Airtel succeeds, the broadband market could shift from fragmented competition to a two-player contest between Safaricom and Airtel, mirroring their dominance in mobile.

Business

Airtel Kenya

Safaricom

Telecommunication