Airtel winds up Kenya wholesale fibre unit after two years

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Optical & Fixed Networks; 17 September 2026; 253 views

Airtel Africa is winding up its Kenyan wholesale fibre and internet subsidiary after two years of operation, following losses and an inability to establish a viable commercial business.

Airtel Kenya Telesonic will be struck off the companies register by December 2026 after Airtel requested its closure. The subsidiary surrendered its Network Facilities Provider Tier 2 licence to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) earlier this year, with the regulator approving the shutdown.

The company recorded a net loss of KES16.1 million in 2025, up from KES2.9 million in 2024. Its financial statements show that it generated no revenue during either year, according to Business Daily.

Airtel's parent company Bharti Airtel said the decision followed strategic, operational and commercial considerations, with the business concluding that it could not continue as a going concern. The subsidiary submitted its licence booklet to the CA in February and is awaiting gazettement and completion of the remaining regulatory procedures.

Telesonic is Airtel Africa's wholesale connectivity arm, providing fibre and data services to governments, enterprises, SMEs and cloud providers across its African markets. The group operates more than 78,000km of terrestrial fibre across Africa and is also involved in the 2Africa subsea cable project.

The Kenyan exit comes despite continued growth in the country's fixed broadband market. Kenya had 1.4 million fibre-optic data subscriptions at the end of 2025, up from 1.1 million a year earlier, according to CA data.

The market is dominated by Safaricom, which held 35.4% of fibre subscriptions at the end of 2025, followed by Jamii Telecoms with 19.5% and Wananchi Group with 10.4%. Airtel Telesonic faced competition from these providers as well as Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Seacom East Africa and MTN Group's Bayobab.

The closure highlights the difference between growing demand for fibre connectivity and the difficulty of building a profitable wholesale infrastructure business in a competitive market. Airtel has not disclosed whether it plans to wind up Telesonic operations in any of its other African markets.