NAIROBI, Kenya – Starlink has emerged among Kenya’s five largest internet service providers as satellite connectivity continues to gain ground, with subscriptions rising by 54.4 per cent in the first half of 2026.
The growth is highlighted in the Internet Society Kenya Chapter’s State of Kenya’s Internet, H1 2026 report, which shows satellite internet subscriptions increased to 27,616 during the period under review.
The report says satellite subscriptions were almost entirely driven by Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX.
“Satellite subscriptions, almost entirely Starlink, grew 54.4pc to 27,616,” the report states.
Starlink Breaks Into Top Five
The report’s market-structure analysis separately places Starlink among Kenya’s five largest internet providers, giving it a 5 per cent share in the Pulse dataset.
Safaricom accounted for 43 per cent, followed by Airtel at 24 per cent, while Wananchi had four per cent and MTN Business two per cent.
The figures point to the growing presence of satellite connectivity in a market that has traditionally relied heavily on mobile networks and terrestrial fibre infrastructure.
Starlink’s expansion has been particularly relevant in areas where fibre networks are unavailable, costly or difficult to deploy, offering households, businesses and institutions an alternative means of accessing high-speed internet.
Satellite Still Small Part of Fixed Market
Despite Starlink’s rapid growth, satellite internet remains a relatively small component of Kenya’s overall fixed connectivity market.
Kenya recorded 2.84 million fixed data and internet subscriptions during the period, representing a 32.4 per cent year-on-year increase.
Fibre remained the dominant technology, accounting for 1.57 million subscriptions, or 55.2 per cent of the fixed market.
Fixed wireless connections also crossed the one-million mark, highlighting the continued dominance of terrestrial technologies despite the rapid growth of satellite services.
Kenya’s Internet Backbone Expands
The report says Kenya’s wider internet infrastructure has continued to grow, supported by international bandwidth, submarine cables, internet exchange points and investment in data centres.
Kenya recorded 28.1 Tbps of international bandwidth in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 16.4 per cent.
The country had seven submarine cable landings, with two additional cables expected by 2027.
Kenya also had five active internet exchange points, with about 90 per cent of 222 active networks connecting through an IXP.
The report rated Kenya’s internet resilience at 53 out of 100, placing the country at the global average and 12 points above the African average of 41.
Rural Connectivity Gap Persists
The growth in infrastructure has not eliminated Kenya’s digital access gap.
Internet-user penetration stood at about 35 per cent, with a substantial difference between urban and rural areas.
Urban internet penetration was estimated at 57 per cent, compared with just 25 per cent in rural areas.
The report identifies meaningful connectivity as a major challenge, noting that access to a network does not necessarily translate into reliable and useful internet access.
“Kenya’s binding constraint is meaningful connectivity, not simply network availability,” the report states.
Satellite services such as Starlink could therefore play a role in extending connectivity to locations where traditional fixed infrastructure has not reached.
88 Million Mobile Subscriptions
Mobile connectivity remains the country’s dominant form of internet access.
Kenya had approximately 88 million active mobile subscriptions by June 30, 2026, equivalent to about 165 per cent penetration.
Smartphones accounted for 65.6 per cent of connected devices.
The report cautions, however, that the large number of mobile subscriptions does not directly translate into equivalent levels of internet use.
Kenya Faces Network Security Challenges
The report also highlights weaknesses in network performance and technical security despite Kenya’s relatively strong overall internet resilience.
Mobile network performance recorded a resilience score of 43 out of 100, while consistency and responsiveness each scored 32.
Adoption of some technical security measures also remained low.
IPv6 capability stood at between 13 and 15 per cent, while only six per cent of Kenyan networks were found to perform Route Origin Validation.
Kenya nevertheless recorded a strong institutional cybersecurity score of 99 out of 100 in the Global Cybersecurity Index.
Cyber Threats Remain High
Kenya’s cyber threat environment remained significant during the first half of 2026, although detected threat events declined during the period.
The Communications Authority’s KE-CIRT/CC detected 3.37 billion cyber threat events between January and March, representing a 26.15 per cent decline from the previous quarter.
A further 30.03 per cent decline was recorded between April and June.
The report’s findings show a Kenyan internet market expanding rapidly across fibre, wireless and satellite technologies, while significant gaps remain in meaningful connectivity, network performance and technical security.
