Telkom Kenya loses 800K subscribers following network tower shutdown by American Towers Corporation

Telkom Kenya, the third-largest telecommunications provider in the country, has experienced a significant drop in its subscriber base, losing approximately 800,000 customers in just three months.

This comes on the heels of the American Towers Corporation (ATC) shutting down its network towers. By December 2023, the number of Telkom’s mobile subscribers had dwindled to 1.3 million.

Issues began in February 2023 when ATC decommissioned 246 Telkom towers due to unpaid leasing fees. The action exacerbated a dispute between the two companies that had been ongoing for two years leading to that point. By October 2023, Telkom Kenya’s debt had ballooned to a substantial KES 7.1 billion ($51.7 million).

As reported by Business Daily, ATC requested an initial payment of KES 500 million ($3.6 million) and a subsequent monthly fee of KES 150 million ($1.09 million) for the reactivation of the towers. However, Telkom Kenya cited persistent financial challenges as a hindrance to meeting these debt obligations.

Prior to 2018, when ATC acquired 723 towers, Telkom Kenya owned and maintained its own towers. At the time of the acquisition, Telkom Kenya stated that the move would “enhance the quality and reliability of our network to benefit our customers.”

As of June 2023, ATC Kenya operated 3,643 towers across the country, which also include nine distributed antenna system sites.