Starlink is losing ground in Kenya and for the first time since its launch in mid-2023, its subscriber base has dropped, revealing discontent among users and high competition from local operators like Safaricom.
Over 2,000 customers exited the service between December 2024 and March 2025.
New figures from the Communications Authority (CA) place Starlink’s total fixed internet subscribers at 17,066 by the end of Q1 2025. That’s a drop of over 11% within a single quarter, pulling the company down from the seventh to the eighth spot among internet service providers (ISPs) in Kenya.
The timing coincides with a prolonged pause in new sign-ups and an aggressive drive by Safaricom to overtake the fixed broadband market.
The collapse in user growth traces back to Starlink’s decision to halt new connections across major urban and peri-urban counties, including Nairobi, Kiambu, and Machakos.
The reason is overcapacity; too many users, not enough infrastructure. A Nairobi ground station was eventually switched on in January 2025 to ease the burden, but the damage was already done. Many who had spent over KES 45,000 ($348) on Starlink hardware were left waiting, months on end, for access.
Even now, with the waitlist reopened, growth hasn’t recovered. Some customers appear to have abandoned the service altogether, citing connection delays, lack of support, and the high KES 6,500 ($50) monthly fee for speeds of 180 Mbps.
Meanwhile, Safaricom swooped in with cheaper 5G plans starting at KES 4,000 ($31) per month for 50 Mbps. More importantly, the company cut its router prices from KES 25,000 to KES 3,000, more than ten times cheaper than Starlink’s hardware.
Safaricom’s moves are working. It added nearly 57,000 fixed broadband subscribers in the first quarter of 2025 alone, increasing its market share to 36.5%. Starlink, by comparison, slipped from 1.1% to 0.9%. Even Dimension Data overtook it in the rankings.
Distribution patterns reveal another dimension of Starlink’s challenges. Supermarket chains like Carrefour have started reducing the stock of Starlink kits. Quickmart has shifted to marketing Safaricom’s 5G routers instead.
The early excitement generated by Elon Musk’s online endorsements and local tech influencers is waning. Starlink’s dominance in satellite internet, currently holding 97% of Kenya’s satellite market, is beginning to look fragile.
And now, regulatory threats are emerging. The CA has proposed a near tenfold increase in satellite licence fees, from KES 1.6 million to KES 15 million. An additional 0.4% levy on annual gross turnover is also on the table. These changes, framed as efforts to create parity between global and local players, will hit Starlink’s margins hard.
Globally, Starlink added more than 1.5 million users in three months, reaching 5.36 million subscribers as of March 2025. Africa accounted for 336,000 of those, marking a 42% rise. But in Kenya, the direction has turned.
Even with its wide reach into underserved regions and relatively high speeds, Starlink’s challenges might soon move beyond technical, to financial, political, and strategic.
Comments 1