The Kenyan government announced on Tuesday, 13 October, in Nairobi that it would make 13 billion shillings available to support the rollout of at least 27,000 additional kilometres of fibre-optic cable, as part of a tender covering the national network and cross-border links.
The public envelope is meant to leverage an equivalent investment from the private sector, according to Principal Secretary for Information Technology and the Digital Economy John Tanui. Subsidies are to be awarded through a multi-round reverse-auction mechanism designed to select the bids requiring the least public support to cover the selected routes.
The project covers major national links, intermediate networks and border connections. Connections to households and businesses will also require investment from internet service providers, which will set the rates offered to subscribers.
Kenya had 2,838,656 fixed internet connections at the end of June 2026, up 32.4% year on year, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya. Fibre access accounted for 1,566,815 connections, more than half of the total, after annual growth of 29.7%.
The authorities are aiming for more than eight million fixed connections, with deployment efforts to continue in areas where low customer density limits the profitability of networks.
The operation falls under the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project, supported by the World Bank. In April 2023, the institution approved financing of 390 million dollars for a first phase running until 2028, with the aim of expanding broadband access, improving certain public services and mobilising around 100 million dollars in private capital for digital infrastructure.
The announcement was made on 13 October at a pre-bid meeting bringing together operators, investors and project partners.