• American billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet entered the Kenyan market in July 2023, at the start of the fiscal year 2023/24
• Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) showed that the satellite internet subscribers in the country grew to 8,063 as of June 30, 2024
• Starlink ranked among the top ten internet service providers in terms of market share after it provided stiff competition
• The company, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX, connects more than four million people across the world

TUKO.co.ke journalist Wycliffe Musalia has over five years of experience in financial, business, and technology reporting and offers deep insights into Kenyan and global economic trends.

Since it established its base in Kenya, Starlink has continued to provide stiff competition to local internet service providers (ISPs).

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The satellite internet launched in Nairobi in July 2023, and one year down the line, it ranks among the top ten ISPs.

What’s Starlink’s market share in Kenya?

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Sector Statistics Report for Q4 of 2023/2024 ranked Safaricom PLC as the ISP with the largest market share at 36.4%, followed by Jamii Telecommunications Ltd and Wananchi Group at 24% and 17.5%.

“Starlink Internet Services Kenya, which was licensed earlier in the financial year to provide satellite Internet services, had a market share of 0.5% as of 30th June 2024,” read the report in part.

This showed the pace at which Elon Musk’s company is overtaking local ISPs in less than 12 months.

As of September 2024, Starlink boasted four million subscribers in over 100 countries, including Kenya.

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The company offers high-speed internet connection through a satellite orbiting around the Earth.

“We are connecting more than 4 million people with high-speed internet in 100 plus countries, territories, and other markets,” said Starlink.

List of Kenya’s Internet providers with market share

Starlink now boasts over 8,063 satellite internet subscribers in Kenya, beating others as listed below:

How Starlink continues to gain support in Kenya

In September 2024, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa revealed that the telco held discussions with Starlink, which is owned by American billionaire Elon Musk.

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Ndegwa noted that satellite technology enhances internet connectivity in rural regions where fibre-based technology, which Safaricom and other local providers use, cannot.

He said Safaricom’s partnership with Starlink would benefit Kenyans in rural areas and insisted that he was not worried about competition.

The CEO’s revelation about holding talks with Starlink came after Safaricom wrote a letter to CA expressing concerns about its market entrance.

What to know about Starlink

Elon Musk expressed his satisfaction with the significant impact of the satellite internet since it launched in July 2023.

In August 2024, the SpaceX subsidiary offered to rent the kits on a monthly basis to Kenyans who could not afford them.

Musk rolled out the Starlink Mini package that cost KSh 1,300 monthly, three months after promising the same.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke

Source: TUKO.co.ke