How Emergence of Starlink Sparked Improvement on Internet Speed in Kenya

Elon Musk’s Starlink entry in Kenya has sparked competitive improvements among local internet providers, allowing Kenya to fix its internet speeds. In October 2024, Kenya’s internet speed had increased by 18.5% to 11.59 mbps from 9.78 mbps in January.

Following emergence of Starlink in the Kenyan Market, Kenya’s leading Telco service provider, Safaricom, responded by raising bandwidth introducing 1,000 mbps speeds for the first time in order to catch up with the market dynamics.

The heightened competition has driven significant market changes: subscribers using 100-1000 mbps connections increased by 53% to 15,226 by June, while overall fixed Internet users grew 13% to 1.5 million.

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Starlink captured 0.5% market share with 8,324 users by June, up from 405 in 2023. As a result of the heightened environment, consumer welfare improved hugely, with Internet usage increasing from 32.7% to 40.8% of the population, and daily online time rising to 4 hours 49 minutes from 4 hours 17 minutes, without corresponding price increases.

Building on the surge in Kenyan internet speeds ignited by Starlink’s arrival, the underlying sentiment amongst Kenyan consumers is a mix of excitement and skepticism directed primarily at the market’s dominant player.

The prevailing narrative, as evidenced by widespread online discussions and social media chatter, questions the timing and motives behind these upgrades: If this capacity existed all along, why was it withheld?

Historically, internet infrastructure development, driven by initiatives like the SEACOM and TEAMS undersea cables in 2009, has been a cornerstone of Kenya’s Vision 2030, aiming to transform the nation into a middle-income country.