Telkom Kenya's fall warns Nigerian telcos on network quality

Telkom Kenya dropped to fifth place among Kenyan mobile operators, losing nearly 600,000 subscribers from December 2023 to December 2025, according to Communications Authority data. Its user base shrank from 1.34 million to 744,500, overtaken by Equitel and Jamii Telecommunications even as the overall market grew.

This matters for Nigeria because Glo and 9mobile face similar risks. Telkom’s decline stemmed from poor network performance—trailing rivals in call stability—and an infrastructure dispute with American Tower Corporation that limited site maintenance and expansion. Without Safaricom’s ecosystem or Airtel’s low-price strategy, Telkom lacked a clear position and became squeezed between scaled giants and niche players.

Nigerian operators must prioritize network reliability in a prepaid market where users switch easily. Infrastructure conflicts directly hurt coverage and retention. The lesson: achieve scale, build a unique ecosystem, or specialize—or risk rapid decline.

For consumers, price isn’t everything; long-term reliability matters. Will Nigerian telcos invest in network robustness now, or wait until subscriber losses force costly catch-up?

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/04/04/telkom-drops-to-fifth-and-last/