The 47 counties in Kenya are now part of the 5G network that telecom provider Safaricom has expanded.
Safaricom’s overall number of 5G sites has increased from 803 in March to 1,114, as 311 new sites were deployed during the previous four months.
With installations in 102 towns, Safaricom’s 5G network now reaches 14% of Kenya’s population due to the expansion. The telco claims that more households, businesses, and individuals are now using high-speed Internet.
It also stated that more than 11,000 business clients are adopting 5G and that its network already has over 780,000 active 5G handsets.
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Safaricom surpass Airtel Kenya in 5G network coverage
The business revealed just this month that it had surpassed rival Airtel Kenya in the number of operational 5G sites it possesses in East Africa.
According to Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, the company is still dedicated to spearheading Kenya’s digital transformation by offering a network that bridges the digital gap by facilitating communication, access to information, and essential services.
“We believe that the benefits of 5G will be a key catalyst in leapfrogging other innovations, industries, and Kenya’s digital economy,” he stated.
Kenya’s 5G expansion
With just 35 sites, Safaricom was the first to introduce 5G in Kenya in October 2022. The company then quickly started to roll out its network nationwide.
In a video interview with the media in late 2023, Peter Ndegwa, the CEO of Safaricom, stated that the company expected to install another 700–1,000 sites to have 2,000 5G sites by the end of 2025.
In July 2023, Airtel Kenya began rolling out its 5G network with about 370 sites; a year later, that number nearly increased to 690.
However, fourth-place Jamii Telecommunications (JTL) and third-place provider Telkom Kenya have not yet introduced 5G.
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According to data from Omdia, a market research firm, Safaricom has 44.8 million mobile users in Kenya as of the end of the second quarter of 2024, while Airtel Kenya has around 20.3 million.
During the same year, Telkom Kenya had one million users, while JTL had only 589,597 mobile users.
Even though the number of 5G stations in Kenya has increased, according to Omdia data, at the end of Q2 2024, only 1% of all mobile subscribers in the nation were on 5G.
By the end of 2024, 5G subscriptions will make up 3.8% of Kenyans’ entire population, according to Omdia, and by 2026, they will make up over 12%.