Introduction
The Kenyan mobile market comprises several operators, of which two have their own networks with nation-wide coverage: Airtel and Safaricom. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A good knowledge of the network situation also allows the customers to perform fully informed decisions.
The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in Kenya for these two MNOs.
This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:
- Disconnection time: daily average minutes that the users from a MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage.
- 4G and 5G time: percentage of time that the users from a MNO have had 4G and, if available, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
- 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity, percentage of time in 5G and percentage of active usage of 5G.
- Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all MNOs provide coverage.
- Call type: percentage of use of each call type by operator. This shows which technologies each of their customers primarily use.
- Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.
Summary
The Kenyan telecommunications market is controlled by two operators with their own networks and MVNOs that together hold 95% of the market: Airtel and Safaricom.
In this competition to increase its customer base, Safaricom is the number 1 operator in Kenya with 65.6% of the market. Further away is Airtel with 29.2% of the market.
In the performance of each operator's network we can observe differences between them.
If we take into account the disconnection time, Safaricom is the operator that remains without coverage for the least amount of time compared to its competitors.
Regarding 5G, Safaricom is the operator with the highest percentage of 5G customers (4%).
Airtel is the operator that presents the longest 5G coverage time for its 5G clients (33%), while Safaricom is the one with the longest active use time of 5G coverage, with 23%.
Safaricom is the operator that offers the best quality of 4G and 5G coverage, both in area and in measurements.
If we look at the types of calls, Safaricom is the operator in which users use VoLTE the most in their calls (50%).
Finally, regarding latency, in general terms, Safaricom has better latency than its competitors, with 81% of its measurements being rated as at least good latency.
The main key figures are the following:
- The two main operators (Airtel, Safaricom) in Kenya provide 4G or 5G coverage to their customers at least 82% of the time.
- 5G is not yet standardized in the country and the number of 5G users is very low. The MNO with the most 5G clients is Safaricom (4%), followed by Airtel with 3%.
- Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G clients, Airtel is the best operador, providing 5G coverage 33% of the time but only active use 21% of the time.
- VoLTE calls are especially relevant for Safaricom, accounting for at least 50% of total calls.
- Safaricom is the operator that has the best latency for a decent experience in all possible types of use, with 81% of measurements rated as good or excellent.
Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them.
At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.
At a more general level, Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 60 million measurements collected between June and August 2024 were used.
The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout Kenya by Weplan Analytics.
As the two aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) they have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.
More details about the methodology can be found here.
Connectivity
Connectivity: Daily disconnection time
The following graphic shows the disconnection time as the average number of minutes that each customer of each MNO experiences disconnections throughout the day.
Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (such as underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from an antenna that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer only has emergency coverage, that is, the ability to perform only emergency calls.
This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.
Among Kenyan operators, Safaricom has the shortest daily disconnection time, with only 5 minutes of daily disconnections.
Because there is a high rate of users who do not use smartphones, since it is not possible to measure the disconnections of these users, the figures are biased towards users with smartphones.
Connectivity: 4G and 5G time
As a result of the development of 5G technology, legacy technologies such as the 2G and 3G networks are being turned off with the aim of freeing up electromagnetic spectrum to make room for more modern technologies such as 4G and 5G. This is because the frequencies are limited, so it is necessary to turn off the old ones so that the new ones can occupy those frequencies. Thus, one of the main objectives of operators is to guarantee at least adequate 4G coverage, and for those that already meet this objective, the focus turns to 5G.
Safaricom has the best 4G or higher coverage time for its customers, maintaining this coverage 89% of the time.
5G penetration and usage
Although it deployed its 5G network in March 2021 for trials in cities, it was not until October 2022 when Safaricom became the first operator to launch commercial 5G in Kenya, starting in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega.
After Safaricom it was Airtel's turn, which launched its commercial 5G in July 2023.
Although at the beginning it was Airtel that had the most sites deployed for 5G, currently the competition is at 803 sites deployed by Safaricom, compared to 690 sites by Airtel.
Both operators' plans will continue with a constant rollout of 5G sites to reach the majority of the population, with Safaricom announcing its intention to reach 1,700 sites by 2025, while Airtel announcing 1,000 sites before the end of 2024.
Although this deployment of sites is constant, the number of 5G users is very low in both operators.
According to the latest figures announced, Safaricom's 5G users were only 1.3% of the operator's total users, while for Airtel this percentage was 0.3%.
These figures are expected to increase at a good pace, given that the 5G terminals detected by each operator are progressively increasing.
The possibility of a customer to use the 5G network depends on several factors:
- Their device must be 5G compatible.
- The MNO must have a 5G network.
- The client must contract a mobile plan that allows the 5G to be used, since not all MNOs offer full access to the 5G network as part of their regular plans.
The following charts show the percentage of users per MNO that have 5G access, and the percentage of time they are under 5G coverage. To establish whether a user is a 5G client or not, their 5G connectivity has been checked: if they have connected to the 5G network at least once, they are considered 5G clients.
Percentage of 5G users by carrier
The percentage of 5G clients in Kenya is still very low, with Safaricom being the one with the most 5G clients (4%), followed by Airtel with 3%.
Percentage of time spent under 5G coverage for 5G clients by carrier
If we look at the time in which each user has 5G coverage available, Airtel and Safaricom are statistically tied with around 33% of 5G coverage time.
Percentage of 5G usage time for 5G users
When a user connects to the 5G network, they can do so under a Stand Alone (5G SA, pure 5G) or Non Stand Alone (5G NSA, 5G supported by the LTE network) connection.
When a user connects to the 5G NSA network, they can use only the LTE part (although they still see on their terminal that it is connected to 5G) or also the 5G part. Connecting in one way or another is mainly due to the use and capacity of the network, with the 5G network being prioritized for intensive data uses (e.g. streaming, video calls, video games, etc.) and leaving the 4G network for less intensive uses (e.g. messaging, low consumption web browsing, etc.).
The following graph shows the percentage of time that users are connected to a 5G network and are also using 5G technology.
If we emphasize the time that each user uses the available 5G, Airtel and Safaricom are again statistically tied with around 23% usage time with 5G coverage.
4G and 5G network status
There are two main network performance indicators used to address the network status: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but two great categories can be established:
- Very Good: the network performance for all usages should be excellent.
- Good: the network performance for all usages may present occasional difficulties but is good overall.
- Fair: most network network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have at least a decent performance.
- Degraded: network usage may be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer rate.
- Very Degraded: apart from emergency calls network usage is nearly impossible.
There are two ways to analyze these categories: by percentage of covered area or by percentage of measurements.
Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better.
However, it is important to note that in most countries the majority of the territory is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different from the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.
In general, both operators offer decent coverage in the common coverage area in Kenya.
Safaricom is the operator with the best results with 74% of the area rated as at least fair. Airtel follows with 56%.
If you look at measurements instead of area, the general situation is practically identical.
Safaricom is the operators with the best results with 72% of the measurements are classified as, at least, fair. Airtel follows with 56%.
Call type percentage
Although 2G and 3G technologies allow the use of data, the development of 4G and 5G has left these technologies largely relegated to use in phone calls.
However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls, since in order for them to be used, the following conditions must be met:
- Your MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
- They must have a phone capable of making VoLTE calls and a mobile plan that includes VoLTE.
- Your phone must be approved by the MNO and the manufacturer to make VoLTE calls.
The last condition means that a customer, without changing their phone, can have VoLTE with one operator, but not have it with another. When a 4G connected customer without VoLTE capability (for any reason) attempts to make a call, a handover process to the 2G or 3G network occurs.
This process, depending on the method applied, is called CSFB (the most common) or SRVCC. In addition, there is also VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology, which is used when a Wi-Fi network is available.
VoLTE technology is the most used by Safaricom customers, with at least 50% of calls using this technology. It is followed by Airtel with 47%.
Latency status
Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, and smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator for user experience. We have divided latency in four main groups:
- Excellent latency: very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
- Good latency: good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
- Degraded latency: mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
- Bad latency: essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.
Safaricom presents the best results with 81% of their measurements rated as good or excellent. It is followed by Airtel with 59% of measurements rated as good or excellent.

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