The Need for Meaningful Connectivity in Urban Kenya

Kenya is on the cusp of a digital revolution. With a burgeoning tech scene and a growing middle class, the potential for digital transformation is immense. However, a significant portion of the population, particularly urban low-income households, remains underserved by existing internet service providers (ISPs).

Despite a high smartphone penetration rate of 67%, 88% of Kenyans lack access to meaningful connectivity. This gap is primarily driven by three key factors - affordability, accessibility and digital literacy. This lack of meaningful connectivity has far-reaching consequences:

• Limited Access to Digital Services: Users are restricted to low-value activities like social media and entertainment.

• Hindered Economic Growth: Reduced productivity and limited opportunities for online entrepreneurship.

• Digital Divide: Exacerbated inequality between those with and without access to reliable internet.

In Kenya, over 4 million urban households face significant challenges in accessing affordable, reliable internet. Our target customers are typically at the lower end of the income spectrum, earning between KES 10,000 to 50,000 monthly. They experience a large gap between their data needs and what they can afford. This is compounded by limited infrastructure and digital literacy, preventing them from fully leveraging online resources for education, skill-building, and economic opportunities.

These households primarily use mobile data due to the high setup and monthly costs of broadband. However, mobile data comes with a steep price - many households ration data, spending between KES 200 and 800 per month on small daily or hourly packages. For instance, they may purchase 250MB daily for KES 20, which constrains them to about 10GB monthly. In contrast, our experiments with free WiFi show that average usage can surge to 80GB monthly per person, indicating a strong unmet demand.

Connectivity workarounds, such as shared WiFi with neighbors, often result in poor and unreliable service. In low-income neighborhoods, shared connections frequently experience degraded bandwidth, which can disrupt access for secondary users, especially in crucial times when primary users limit availability.

Connectivity initiatives, such as the Kenya Digital Acceleration Project and efforts by companies like Mawingu and KPLC, aim to close these gaps, but are more focused on rural consumers, where the challenges are more complex and involve the develop of extensive infrastructure. Kenya’s low-income urban population, however, represents a major opportunity - the right solution could help unlock trapped potential in 12M Kenyans. 

However, making meaningful progress requires affordable, flexible solutions that cater to this group’s specific needs. Our focus is on empowering these households with reliable, affordable data, addressing the critical data gap and unlocking connectivity’s potential for education, skill development, and economic participation.