The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) assesses mobile network quality as a core consumer protection function. For FY 2024–2025, the Authority evaluated all three licensed operators — Safaricom, Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya — across every one of Kenya’s 47 counties.
The framework, introduced in 2017, combines field tests, network data and customer surveys into a single weighted score. Crucially, the assessment is regulator-conducted, making it the authoritative measure of network performance in the Kenyan market.
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How the Assessment Works
The CA measures network quality through three components, each carrying a defined weight in the final score. Together they capture both the technical condition of a network and the daily experience of the subscribers who rely on it.
| 60%
End-to-End Drive Tests |
25%
Network Performance Data |
15%
Quality of Experience Surveys |
Drive Tests: What the Road Reveals
Field teams drove and walked through all 47 counties carrying specialised measurement equipment, placing calls, sending SMS messages and running data sessions while logging every result. Engineers then cleaned the raw data against international standards set by the ITU, ETSI and IEC before sharing the logs with each operator for review. This component carries the most weight — 60% — because it captures what a subscriber actually encounters in the real world, not what a network reports about itself.
The drive tests benchmarked voice calls against five indicators: an unsuccessful call rate below 5%, a dropped call rate below 2%, a call setup time under 12 seconds, a voice quality score of at least 3.4 on the POLQA scale and a handover success rate above 96%. For data services, targets included latency below 100 milliseconds, download and upload failure rates below 10%, internet accessibility above 98%, and SMS success and delivery rates above 95%.
Network Performance Data: Inside the Engine Room
The CA connects directly to each operator’s Network Operations Centre to extract live statistics on call blocking, call drops, handover success, data access and service availability. This component provides an internal view that field tests alone cannot reach. The pass threshold — as with drive tests — stands at 80%.
Quality of Experience: What Subscribers Report
Between August and November 2025, the CA surveyed subscribers across all three networks to measure service perception. The results, published in December 2025, fed into the final weighted score. The survey covered network coverage, voice quality, call reliability, internet speed, billing accuracy, customer care and complaint handling.
Operator Performance: FY 2024–2025 Snapshot
The table below summarises performance across the four components that feed into the CA’s overall QoS score. The regulatory pass threshold sits at 80%.
| Metric | Safaricom PLC | Airtel Kenya | Telkom Kenya |
| Overall QoS Score | 89.72% | 81.14% | 52.76% |
| End-to-End Drive Test Score | 90.36% | 76.47% | 47.94% |
| Network Performance Score | 100% | 100% | 60% |
| Quality of Experience Score | 70.0% | 68.4% | 60.0% |
| Regional Targets Met | 5 of 5 regions | 2 of 5 regions | 0 of 5 regions |
| Regulatory Threshold (80%) Met | Yes | Yes | No |
The Overall Results: One Leader, One Concern
The 80% threshold separates networks that meet the CA’s minimum standard from those that fall short. Here is where each operator landed.
| SAFARICOM
89.72% ✓ PASSED |
AIRTEL KENYA
81.14% ✓ PASSED |
TELKOM KENYA
52.76% ✗ FAILED |
Safaricom topped the rankings at 89.72%, comfortably ahead of the 80% threshold. Airtel Kenya cleared the bar at 81.14% — a pass, though with narrow headroom. Telkom Kenya returned 52.76%, missing the compliance threshold by more than 27 percentage points.
Drive Test Results: County by County
National Performance
Across all 47 counties, Safaricom scored 90.36% on the drive test component, exceeding the 80% target by more than ten points. Airtel Kenya came in at 76.47%, below the threshold but within reach. Telkom Kenya recorded 47.94%, less than half the score needed to meet the standard.
Regional Breakdown
The CA groups counties into five regional clusters: Coast (6 counties), Nairobi (8 counties), Central and Eastern (13 counties), Western (12 counties) and Nyanza (8 counties). Safaricom met the 80% target in all five clusters, the only operator to do so. Airtel cleared the threshold in two of the five. Telkom Kenya met it in none.
Safaricom’s regional scores ranged between 85% and 92%, signalling consistent delivery across the country rather than performance concentrated in a few favoured geographies. Even in its strongest regions, Telkom Kenya’s scores fell between 42% and 54%, below the minimum in every cluster.
Safaricom Reverses a Four-Year Industry Decline
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Airtel Kenya’s drive test score improved marginally from approximately 73% to 76%, remaining below the 80% target in both years. Telkom Kenya dropped from around 52% to 48%, a decline that now spans multiple consecutive years. The sector moved backward. Safaricom did not.
Network Performance Data
Measured against technical benchmarks drawn from each operator’s own network statistics, Safaricom and Airtel Kenya both scored 100%, meeting every target. Telkom Kenya scored 60%, primarily because its call drop rate of 6.86% far exceeded the 2% maximum the framework permits.
| KPI | Target | Safaricom | Airtel Kenya | Telkom Kenya |
| Unsuccessful Call Ratio | ≤5% | 0.33% | 0.24% | 1.55% |
| Call Drop Rate | ≤2% | 0.51% | 0.22% | 6.86% ⚠ |
| Handover Success Rate | ≥96% | 98.89% | 97.92% | 97.43% |
| Data Service Access Rate | ≥98% | 99.13% | 99.41% | 99.98% |
| Data Service Availability | ≥85% | 98.50% | 95.24% | 73.00% ⚠ |
| Network Performance Score | 100% | 100% | 60% |
Telkom Kenya’s data service availability of 73% also fell below the 85% floor. On the two metrics that most directly shape a subscriber’s day — whether a call connects and whether data works — Telkom Kenya failed to meet the standard on both.
What Subscribers Reported: Quality of Experience
The satisfaction surveys, conducted between August and November 2025, measured ten dimensions of service. All three operators scored lower than in the previous year, continuing a slide in how subscribers perceive the quality of service they receive.
| Dimension | Airtel Kenya | Safaricom | Telkom Kenya |
| Network Coverage Satisfaction | 65.0% | 65.8% | 72.7% |
| Voice Call Quality | 64.6% | 63.0% | 62.7% |
| Call Connectivity Reliability | 58.0% | 61.5% | 55.0% |
| Internet and Broadband Quality | 64.2% | 64.2% | 58.6% |
| Internet Speed Satisfaction | 26.6% | 10.6% | 33.9% |
| Billing Satisfaction | 71.8% | 73.1% | 71.8% |
| Billing Transparency and Accuracy | 82.3% | 82.5% | 75.0% |
| Customer Care Satisfaction | 69.8% | 70.6% | 63.5% |
| Complaint Handling Satisfaction | 68.3% | 69.8% | 61.7% |
| Customer Care Accessibility | 72.4% | 67.0% | 79.0% |
| Overall Satisfaction Index | 68.4% | 70.0% | 60.0% |
All three operators scored below 35% on internet speed satisfaction, meaning fewer than one in three subscribers rated their data connection as fast. Billing transparency proved the strongest area for Airtel Kenya and Safaricom, both clearing 82%. Telkom Kenya led on network coverage satisfaction at 72.7% and on customer care accessibility at 79%, suggesting its subscribers find it easier to reach support even when the underlying network experience disappoints.
Year-on-year, satisfaction fell across the board. Safaricom dropped from 77.6% to 70.0%, Airtel Kenya from 69.7% to 68.4%, and Telkom Kenya from 64.2% to 60.0%. The direction is consistent regardless of operator: subscribers feel less satisfied than they did twelve months ago.
The Battle for the Kenyan Subscriber: High Costs vs. Technical Superiority
What the Numbers Mean
Three Findings That Stand Out
The CA’s assessment confirms Safaricom as the only operator delivering consistently high quality at national scale across every dimension the framework measures.
| INDEPENDENT VALIDATION
Safaricom’s lead is regulator-verified, not self-reported. The CA conducted field tests across all 47 counties and drew network data directly from operator systems. The 89.72% overall score reflects performance under external scrutiny. |
NATIONWIDE CONSISTENCY
Meeting the 80% quality target in all five regional clusters means Safaricom’s performance holds whether a subscriber sits in Nairobi, on the Coast or in western Kenya. No other operator came close on regional reach. |
RESILIENCE AGAINST THE TREND
While the industry average fell for the fourth consecutive year, Safaricom improved its drive test score by roughly 15 percentage points. Sustained infrastructure investment produced a measurable result. |
The four-year declining industry average tells a precise story: subscriber numbers and data consumption keep rising while network investment across the sector has not kept pace. Safaricom’s 2024–2025 result demonstrates what happens when an operator invests against that pressure rather than absorbing it.
Airtel Kenya: A Pass With Caveats
For Airtel Kenya, clearing the overall threshold while falling short on the drive test component flags a specific gap. Its network performance data scored a perfect 100%, and customer satisfaction held relatively steady. But the shortfall in field test results — 76.47% against an 80% target, points to coverage gaps that subscribers in certain counties will feel directly.
Telkom Kenya: A Result That Demands Action
Telkom Kenya’s result cannot be explained away. A 52.76% overall score, with a call drop rate more than three times the permissible limit and data availability below the minimum threshold , reflects a network that currently cannot deliver the standard Kenyan subscribers have a right to expect. The multi-year downward trajectory makes this harder to attribute to a single difficult year.
The Speed Problem Across the Sector
No operator scored above 34% on internet speed satisfaction. In a country where mobile data serves as the primary internet connection for millions of households and businesses — for the farmer checking commodity prices, the student accessing learning materials, the trader sending a mobile payment — that finding cuts close to daily life. For Safaricom, leading on technical scores while satisfaction fell by nearly eight percentage points points to the next challenge: translating network investment into an experience subscribers can feel.
Looking Ahead
As Kenya’s digital economy deepens its reliance on mobile connectivity, the CA’s annual Quality of Service (QoS) Performance by Mobile Network Operators — FY 2024–2025 assessment gives consumers, businesses and policymakers a clear, independently verified picture of where each operator stands.
Safaricom occupies the top of that picture, not by a narrow margin, but by a distance that reflects years of deliberate investment in infrastructure, coverage and service quality. The sector’s challenge now is whether the other operators can narrow that gap before the next assessment cycle reveals an even wider one.
