OPINION: The ‘Serengeti’ of running a legal Internet Service Provider in Kenya
In Landman, Cami walks into a room full of oil executives. Moments earlier, she had been mocked in a bathroom. They call the boardroom the Serengeti — hunters inside, prey everywhere else. She steps into the room and says, “I’m a hunter, too.”
That line stayed with me because running a fully compliant Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Kenya is not easy. And this industry? It is a Serengeti.
To operate legally, an ISP must obtain a licence from the Communications Authority of Kenya. It must maintain tax compliance with the Kenya Revenue Authority. It must register under the Data Protection framework. It must secure county permits, wayleave approvals, and pole authorisation from the Kenya Power and Lighting Company.
It must deploy certified pole-climbing technicians. It must negotiate bandwidth contracts. It must import equipment cleared through multiple agencies. It must pay taxes at every stage of the value chain.
We accept this. Infrastructure is serious business. Digital access is national infrastructure.
But here is the uncomfortable truth.
This is the Serengeti — and the irony is that compliant operators carry the weight of the ecosystem. After meeting every regulatory requirement and absorbing every operational cost, they compete with illegal operators who carry almost none of that burden.
No licence.
No tax compliance.
No data protection registration.
No certified technical teams.
No structured accountability.
Yet they compete for the same buildings, the same customers — often at lower prices.
That is not healthy competition. That is regulatory asymmetry. And asymmetry distorts markets.
When compliant operators face layered approvals, field disruptions, and inconsistent enforcement — while informal networks expand freely — the message to the market becomes dangerous: compliance is optional, and shortcuts are profitable.
Digital infrastructure is not a side hustle. It carries consumer data. It presents public safety risks when improperly installed on utility poles. It has tax revenue implications. It underpins Kenya’s national connectivity strategy.
If enforcement is uneven, the ecosystem weakens. Serious operators slow down. Informal networks accelerate. Long-term investors watch — and they notice.
This is not a complaint. It is a strategic concern.
Kenya’s digital ambitions are bold. Fibre expansion. Smart services. Digital payments. Energy integration. But infrastructure cannot be built sustainably on uneven rules.
Supporting compliant operators does not mean protectionism. It means consistency. Streamlining approvals. Coordinating enforcement. Addressing unlicensed networks decisively. Protecting licensed teams operating in the field. Making legitimacy an advantage — not a handicap.
The Serengeti is competitive by nature. That is understood. But ecosystems collapse when the rules reward the wrong behaviour.
Kenya has built one of Africa’s strongest digital economies. The next test is simple: will we reward those who build within the system — or those who bypass it?
That answer will shape the next decade of our infrastructure.
