Kenya: Airtel Ranked Ahead of Safaricom On Affordability

Nairobi — Airtel has emerged as the most preferred mobile network in Kenya on affordability, beating larger rivals including Safaricom, Jamii Telecommunications and Telkom Kenya, according to a new survey.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Customer Satisfaction Survey shows that 47.1 percent of respondents prefer Airtel for offering affordable services. This places the country's second-largest telco ahead of Jamii at 26.8 percent, Telkom Kenya at 25 percent, and market leader Safaricom at 19.6 percent.

The findings come amid concerns that Kenya ranks among the most expensive countries for mobile data and voice services in the region.

A recent report shows that Kenyans pay between $0.84 and $2.25 per gigabyte of data, compared with lower rates in Ghana ($0.61), Somalia ($0.63), Nigeria ($0.71), Tanzania ($0.71), and Burkina Faso (about $0.40).

Quality of service also emerged as a key consideration, particularly for Jamii and Airtel.

"Quality of service is another major consideration, particularly for Jamii and Airtel, which are each chosen by about a quarter of respondents (26.8 percent and 25.8 percent respectively)," the CA data shows.

Telkom Kenya follows closely at 22 percent, indicating that service reliability remains an important differentiator in the market. Safaricom recorded the lowest score at 10.4 percent, suggesting that despite its strong brand presence, customers perceive gaps in service quality.

However, the survey indicates that network coverage plays a relatively minor role in customer decision-making.

"Network coverage plays a smaller role in decision-making. Airtel leads modestly at 12.5 percent, followed by Jamii at 9.8 percent. Safaricom, often associated with wide national coverage, surprisingly scores only 4.5 percent, while Telkom Kenya is lowest at 2.4 percent," the report notes.

"This indicates that coverage is less of a deciding factor, possibly because most customers are concentrated in areas where providers overlap and coverage differences are less pronounced."

Promotions were found to have a moderate influence on customer choice, with Jamii leading at 17.1 percent, followed by Telkom Kenya at 15.5 percent.

"Safaricom, at just 5.4 percent, appears less associated with promotional appeal, which may limit its attractiveness to deal-driven customers," the report adds.

Read the original article on Capital FM.