The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has released the latest Sector Statistics Report for Q1 2025 (January–March).
Total mobile (SIM) subscriptions reached a record 76.16 million. This is a 6.7% rise from the previous quarter. This brings the mobile penetration rate to 145.3%. This shows the prevalence of multiple SIM ownership across the country.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions, vital for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions such as smart meters and vehicle tracking, also saw a healthy rise of 3.5%, reaching nearly 2 million.
The number of mobile money subscriptions grew by 7.2% to 45.36 million. At the same time, the number of registered mobile money agents rose by 5.5% to 416,994.
Mobile data subscriptions increased by 1.9% to 57.18 million. Mobile broadband connections on the other hand rose by 2.4% to 44.44 million.
Smartphone usage continues to rise steadily. From the report, we can see that Kenya now has 42.35 million smartphones in use (up 2.1%). There are also 32.5 million feature phones (up 6.5%). Overall mobile phone penetration stood at 143%, with smartphones and feature phones accounting for 80.8% and 62.2% of mobile devices, respectively.
Rise in Cyber Threats
One of the most concerning findings from the report was the rise in cyber threats. Kenya’s National KE-CIRT detected 2.5 billion cyber threat events during the quarter. This is a 201.7% increase in detected threats. KE-CIRT issued 13.2 million cyber threat advisories which is up 14.2% from the previous period.
Also Read: Kenya’s digital economy needs agile approach to cybersecurity
