Across Kenya’s mobile networks, a quiet shift is steadily eating into one of the oldest and most reliable income streams for telecom firms. The familiar beep of a text message is fading from everyday communication, replaced by instant internet chats that are cheaper, faster, and packed with more features.
That change is now showing up in the books, with operators losing hundreds of millions in SMS earnings within just a single quarter.
Industry figures show that SMS traffic dropped to 14.4 billion messages in the final quarter of 2025, down from 14.7 billion in the previous quarter. The reduction, though it may appear small, has translated into a revenue loss estimated at Sh354 million over three months, signaling how quickly messaging habits are reshaping the sector.
The Communication Authority points to a clear driver behind the fall, the steady migration of users to internet-based messaging platforms that do not rely on traditional text services.
“SMS traffic declined to 14.4 billion from 14.7 billion recorded last quarter probably due to growing uptake of internet-based messaging services,” the Communication Authority said in its latest quarterly report.
Applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram have become the new normal for communication in Kenya. What started as personal chat tools has now expanded into business messaging, media sharing, customer service, and group coordination, reducing dependence on SMS across multiple areas of daily life.
Even with SMS losing ground, overall mobile activity in the country continues to grow. Voice calls and mobile data usage are both on the rise, supported by wider smartphone access and improved broadband coverage.
Recent data shows smartphone numbers have climbed to 48.7 million devices, growing by 9.1 per cent within the quarter. At the same time, mobile broadband subscriptions increased to 51.5 million, a rise of 9.3 per cent, giving more users access to online messaging alternatives.
Market share data still places Safaricom at the centre of the SMS ecosystem, controlling 91.55 per cent of all text messages sent. Airtel Kenya follows with 8.4 per cent, while Telkom Kenya, Equitel, and Jamii Telecom together account for less than 0.1 per cent.
Safaricom also remains dominant in overall traffic across both voice and messaging services. “The company handled 19.59 billion voice minutes in Q4 2025, up from 18.32 billion in the previous quarter. Its SMS volume stood at 13.16 billion, slightly down from 13.35 billion in Q3,” CA data shows.
Airtel Networks Kenya posted 11.83 billion voice minutes and 1.21 billion SMS messages between October and December. Telkom Kenya recorded 30.43 million voice minutes and 2.93 million SMS messages, while Finserve and Jamii Telecom together handled about 2.7 million SMS messages.
The steady drop in SMS use is not only a reflection of changing habits but also a shift in how telecom firms earn revenue. SMS has traditionally been a strong profit source because it is cheap to run compared to voice and data services, making its decline financially important for operators.
Pricing across the market remains tightly aligned, with very small differences between operators. The average SMS cost stands at Sh1.18. Safaricom charges Sh1.20 per message for both peak and off-peak hours, Airtel matches that rate at Sh1.20, while Telkom Kenya offers Sh1.15 per SMS.
The narrow pricing gap, ranging between Sh1.15 and Sh1.20, highlights strong competition in the SMS segment and shows how the service has become a low-margin product in the telecom space. Operators are now leaning more on data bundles and voice packages to sustain earnings.
The fall of 300 million messages in a single quarter, combined with the average SMS rate of Sh1.18, explains the estimated Sh354 million revenue drop over the period. Even so, SMS has not disappeared completely from the system.
Banks, government offices, and telecom operators still depend on SMS for critical services such as transaction alerts, one-time passwords, and security notifications, keeping the channel relevant despite the broader decline.
