For the first time in Safaricom’s history, mobile data has overtaken voice as the company’s main engine of connectivity growth. According to the HY26 financial results, mobile data revenue grew 13.4% year-on-year to reach KShs 40.32 billion, making up 20.8% of total service revenue.
Voice revenue fell by 2.1% to KShs 39.72 billion. This is a reflection of the global trend of customers shifting toward data-driven communication through apps and streaming services.
Data usage is still on the rise in Kenya. The average consumption per customer rose 20.6% YoY to 4.85GB per month. The number of smartphone users increased by 16.2% to 28.7 million, while 4G devices grew by 27% to 24.4 million. Even 5G adoption is gathering pace, up 55.9% YoY to 1.3 million devices on Safaricom’s network.
“Rising data consumption points to a fast-digitising Kenyan economy,” Safaricom said in its report, highlighting that nearly half of its mobile customers now use over 1GB of data monthly.
These trends show the broader economic shift as consumers move deeper into the digital era, connectivity becomes less about calls and more about content, commerce and cloud access.
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