Airtel Kenya targets Safaricom’s fibre lead with free installs and lower prices

Airtel Kenya, the country’s second-largest telecoms operator,  has begun a commercial rollout of its Xtreme Fibre service across parts of Nairobi and other towns, moving beyond pilot phases into a market still dominated by Safaricom. 

More than 400 buildings in Nairobi are already connected, according to one Airtel agent, with installation fees waived for both residential and business users to lower switching costs. 

The push marks Airtel’s first concerted attempt to scale in fixed broadband, relying on aggressive pricing and zero-cost onboarding to penetrate dense urban estates where demand is concentrated. Its model is built on fibre-to-the-building, in which a single connection serves an entire apartment block, rather than the fibre-to-the-home approach favoured by incumbents.

That architecture reduces rollout costs and accelerates coverage, but shifts the quality of the last-mile connection to in-building infrastructure. 

Airtel is betting that lower prices and faster installation can prise customers away from established providers in a market where Safaricom accounts for 34.9% of subscriptions and rivals remain fragmented. 

Airtel’s pricing lands below many comparable plans, with 15 Mbps at KES 2,000 (%15.45) and 100 Mbps at KES 5,000 ($39), compressing the range where incumbents have priced for margin. The company is focusing on multi-dwelling units to secure volume per building, rather than chasing single-home installs that are slower and costlier to serve.

Safaricom leads the fixed internet market with a 34.9% market share, followed by Jamii Telecommunications at 20.1% and Wananchi Group at 11.1%. Poa Internet and Ahadi Wireless hold 10.7% and 9.0% respectively. Airtel is not yet among the top operators, which means gains will come from taking share, not defending it.

Alongside fibre, Airtel is revising its wireless offer after complaints about indoor 5G performance. It is shifting to an outdoor receiver paired with an indoor router, supplied at no upfront cost, to stabilise speeds where fibre is not yet available.

Scaling beyond a few hundred buildings depends on last-mile rollout and landlord agreements, areas where incumbents are entrenched.