The Communications Authority (CA) logged 87.99 million mobile SIM subscriptions at the end of the fourth quarter of the 2025/2026 financial year, a 4.6 % rise from three months earlier.

At the same time, Kenya had 79.7 million mobile devices connected to networks, of which 52.26 million were smartphones and 27.42 million were feature phones.

Smartphones now account for roughly two‑thirds of all connected handsets, up from 59.5 % in September 2025 and 63.7 % in March 2026.

Mobile data subscriptions stood at 64.26 million, with 85.5 % (54.93 million) classified as mobile broadband, marking a 2.6 % quarterly increase.

Why the device shift matters

Smartphones support mobile broadband, video, digital finance and cloud applications, expanding the range of services beyond voice and SMS that feature phones provide.

The CA notes that 4G remains the dominant broadband technology, while 5G subscriptions reached about 2.1 million and generate substantially higher data traffic – an average of 53.5 GB per subscription versus 15.1 GB across all mobile broadband.

Mobile broadband consumption in Q3 reached roughly 800 million GB, a 6 % rise from the previous quarter, reflecting growing data demand as more users adopt smartphones.

Implications for households and operators

Households with smartphones gain access to faster internet, mobile money platforms and streaming services, while operators must expand 4G and 5G capacity, backhaul and spectrum to accommodate higher data volumes.

Voice traffic remains robust, with domestic mobile voice minutes reaching 33.01 billion in the June quarter and total annual minutes rising 13.6 % year‑on‑year.