Kenya’s mobile service providers lost 287 jobs year-on-year from 11,997 to 11,710 in June this year, new data by the Communications Authority (CA) shows.
The report by CA reveals this is the first employment drop in five years after periods of sustained hiring.
Fourth Quarter Sector Statistics Report by the authority shows despite the decline in employment, firms in the sector hired more women during the year to June 2025 when compared to men.
“The number of persons employed by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) declined by 2.4pc to 11,710 as of 30th June 2025. The male to female ratio was 56:44 compared to 57:43 in June 2024,” said CA.
According to the report, the number of men employed in the sector declined to 6,562 from 6,917 while that of women increased from 5,080 to 5,148.
The report further indicates that as at the end of June last year, mobile services generated Ksh 425.5 billion in revenues representing an increase of 10.7pc when compared to Ksh 384.3 billion generated a year earlier.
Of the total revenue, voice, data and SMS contributed 26pc, 29pc and 4pc respectively.
“Other service revenue, which includes roaming, bulk SMS, airtime by credit and mobile money revenues
constituted the greatest share of 2024 mobile service revenues at 41.1pc,” stated CA in the report.
Safaricom close the 2023/24 fiscal year with the largest share of earnings with Ksh 315.8 billion followed by Airtel Kenya with Ksh 70 billion, Telkom Kenya Ksh 9.4 billion, Equitel Ksh 3.2 billion and Jamii Telkom 1.6 billion.
During the 2024/25 fiscal year, Kenya added 800,000 new SIM subscriptions to reach 76.7 million with a penetration rate of 146.3pc. This was driven by increased uptake of mobile SIM, mobile money, machine-to
machine, broadband services both mobile and fixed.
“This trend was mainly driven by the expansion of mobile cellular networks with 4G and 5G population coverage of 97.3 and 30.0 per cent respectively. Also, the rollout of 2,275 kilometers out of the planned 2,500 kilometers of fibre optic infrastructure under the CA-ICT Authority project coupled with competitive tariffs, promotions, and special offers launched by the operators during the financial year played a key role,” CA stated.
Of the 58.6 million mobile data and broadband subscribers, 4G had the largest user base at 37.2 million, 2G 12.8 million, 3G 7.4 million and 5G 1.2 million.
