Airtel Kenya Pays US$65 Million for 100 MHz of 3.5 GHz Spectrum

Airtel Kenya has paid US$65 million (KSh8.45 billion) for 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3500 MHz band, securing a 25-year licence from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to expand its 5G network.

The deal, disclosed in parent company Airtel Africa's half-year results on 30 October 2026, represents roughly US$650,000 per MHz — a substantial premium per unit of spectrum over its previous purchase. In July 2022, the operator acquired 60 MHz in the 2600 MHz band for US$40 million under a 15-year licence, working out to about US$667,000 per MHz. The key difference is duration: the new licence runs ten years longer.

What does the new spectrum change?

The 3.5 GHz band carries high-capacity 5G traffic. Operators use it to absorb dense data demand in urban areas. For Airtel Kenya, the immediate effect is headroom: more spectrum per site means faster throughput and better performance where subscriber density is highest.

The purchase extends an investment pattern that began with the 2022 acquisition. Airtel launched commercial 5G in July 2023 with 372 sites across 16 counties. By June 2024, the network had grown to 690 sites covering 39 counties — an 85% increase in site count in under a year, extending coverage to 43 more counties than Kenya has in total territory terms of roughly two-thirds of the country's 47 counties.

The licence is subject to standard conditions imposed by the regulator. Neither Airtel Africa nor the CA has detailed those conditions in the disclosure.

How is the purchase financed?

Airtel Kenya has lined up external funding across the past two years. In 2025, it secured a US$70 million financing facility from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In 2026, it followed with an additional facility of up to US$100 million, earmarked for network expansion, modernisation and debt refinancing. The company has not disclosed whether the spectrum purchase draws on either facility.

For practitioners, the financing structure matters. Spectrum paid in cash from operating cash flow signals balance-sheet strength. Financing through IFC facilities signals leverage against future network returns. Airtel has left that question open.

What does group spending show?

Across its 14 African markets, Airtel Africa more than doubled capital expenditure to US$657 million in the six months ended September 2026, up from US$318 million a year earlier. That is a 107% increase, or roughly US$47 million per market per half-year on average. The reported figure excludes spectrum and licence acquisitions, so total investment including the Kenya purchase runs higher.

The group-level acceleration indicates the Kenya spectrum buy is not an isolated bet. It forms part of a coordinated capex push across the continent.

Why does the competitive maths matter?

Kenya's mobile broadband market remains heavily concentrated. According to the CA's June 2026 statistics, Airtel held 26.8% of mobile subscriptions with 23.60 million connections. Its share of mobile broadband subscriptions stood at 31.9%. Safaricom, the market leader, held 64.4% of mobile broadband subscriptions — more than double Airtel's share.

The gap defines the commercial case for the spectrum purchase. Airtel's mobile broadband share (31.9%) exceeds its overall mobile share (26.8%), which shows its customer base skews toward data users. More mid-band 5G capacity protects that position and gives the operator room to close ground on Safaricom in high-value urban segments.

Airtel has not announced a deployment timeline for the new 3.5 GHz carriers. Its previous rollout pattern — from 372 sites at launch to 690 within eleven months — suggests capacity upgrades will follow the financing already secured through the IFC facilities signed in 2025 and 2026.