Elon Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink has lost over 2,000 subscribers in Kenya within three months, eroding its market share after it halted new sign-ups due to capacity overload.
In the quarter to March 2025, Starlink’s active users in Kenya dropped to 17,066 –a 10.8 percent fall from 19,146 subscribers recorded at the end of last year— according to the latest disclosures by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
The drop in user numbers saw its market share shrink from 1.1 percent in December to 0.9 percent, pushing it down to eighth place among internet service providers (ISPs), from seventh.
It was overtaken by Dimension Data, which now controls one percent of the market. Total fixed broadband subscriptions rose by 138,895 to 1.85 million in the review period.
Starlink had suspended new subscriptions in Nairobi and neighbouring counties in November last year, citing a lack of available capacity, slowing the growth of satellite internet uptake that had been rising steadily since its entry into the Kenyan market in June 2023.
Data from the CA shows that total satellite internet subscriptions fell by 1,928 —or 9.9 percent— between December and March, from 19,403 to 17,475. This drop was largely driven by the decline in Starlink subscriptions, which account for 97 percent of the satellite internet market in Kenya.
The March quarter marked the first decline in satellite internet subscriptions since Starlink’s launch in Kenya, underlining the impact of its November subscription freeze on its local market penetration.
“Satellite internet subscriptions dropped by 9.9 percent compared to quarter two of the 2024/25 financial year, a decline attributed to the drop in subscriptions of the Low Earth Orbit satellite Internet provided by Starlink Internet Services Kenya,” said the CA in its quarterly statistics bulletin.
Starlink has since resumed onboarding new subscribers in Kenya after the eight-month freeze.
Meanwhile, Safaricom —the dominant player in fixed internet services— added 56,949 new subscribers during the quarter, growing its market share to 36.5 percent, up from 36.1 percent in December.
Jamii Telecommunications (Faiba) added 12,663 new users, Wananchi Group (Zuku) gained 3,606, while Poa Internet added 23,461. All other operators except Vijiji Connect registered subscriber growth during the period.
Starlink had recorded rapid growth after entering the Kenyan market, claiming 0.5 percent market share by September 2024 –just over a year later— which it doubled within three months.
However, this swift expansion strained its ability to provide quality service, forcing the firm to pause new sign-ups not only in Kenya, but also in other fast-growing African markets, including Nigeria and South Sudan.
An independent analysis by internet research firm Ookla recently revealed that, even after the subscription halt, Starlink’s average speeds in Kenya remained among the slowest in Africa –at just 47 megabits per second (Mbps), down from over 200 Mbps at launch— highlighting the effects of capacity overload.
The CA, however, now reports that Starlink has increased its bandwidth in Kenya, raising the country’s total satellite internet capacity by 32.7 percent —from 34 million gigabits per second (Gbps) to 45 million Gbps— by the end of March.
Internet capacity refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted through a network at a given time. At current levels, Starlink now offers the fastest internet speeds of all the service providers in Kenya.
