Elon Musk’s Starlink has change into Kenya’s seventh-largest web service supplier (ISP), overtaking established native rivals like Dimension Knowledge and Liquid Telecommunications Kenya simply six months after breaking into the nation’s high ten.
The satellite tv for pc broadband supplier now has 19,146 customers—up from 16,786 three months earlier—capturing 1.1% of Kenya’s web market, in accordance with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) knowledge. Whereas nonetheless trailing far behind market leaders Safaricom and Jamii Telecommunications, Starlink’s speedy development indicators a shift in Kenya’s aggressive broadband market as satellite tv for pc providers acquire traction in areas the place conventional fibre and stuck wi-fi networks wrestle to succeed in.
Starlink’s speedy development has additionally boosted satellite tv for pc web adoption in Kenya. Different satellite tv for pc suppliers—together with Viasat, Indigo Telecom, and NTvsat—serve a mixed complete of simply 257 prospects.
Starlink’s rise has intensified regulatory scrutiny. Native ISPs, together with Safaricom and Airtel Kenya, argue that Starlink’s growth threatens to distort competitors. In response, the CA plans to extend satellite tv for pc licence charges from $12,302 to $115,331 and impose a 0.4% levy on annual turnover—measures that might sluggish the corporate’s momentum.
Regardless of the pushback, Starlink is deepening its foothold with native infrastructure and aggressive pricing. In December 2024, the corporate launched a Nairobi floor station, chopping latency from 120 to 26 milliseconds. The corporate additionally slashed set up package costs throughout a 30-day promotion, launched a $10 50GB knowledge plan, and launched {hardware} leases. By 2025, it goals to deploy satellites that join on to cellular gadgets, bypassing {hardware} kits and intensifying competitors with conventional telcos.
But, Starlink is much from being a market chief. It holds a tiny 1.1% market share, trailing effectively behind Safaricom’s 36.1% and Jamii Telecommunications’ 23.6%. To significantly problem Kenya’s web giants, Starlink will do extra.