Safaricom appoints fixed business director ahead of pay-as-you-go fibre rollout

Safaricom has appointed Sylvia Anampiu as director of fixed business as Kenya’s biggest telco moves closer to rolling out pay-as-you-go fibre broadband for Kenyan homes and offices.

The appointment comes as Safaricom prepares to upend how fixed internet is sold, shifting from rigid monthly plans to daily, weekly and monthly options that mirror mobile data pricing. The model is central to the company’s plan to triple the size of Kenya’s fixed broadband market over the next five years.

Anampiu, who took up the role from January 5, is leading strategy, growth and profitability across Safaricom’s fixed broadband business, spanning home and enterprise connectivity. She will also oversee new pricing models designed to lower the cost of entry for households outside high-income neighbourhoods.

Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa said in December that fixed broadband sits at the centre of the group’s next growth phase.

“We have just over 400,000 customers on fixed broadband today, in a market that is only serving about 1.2 million,” Ndegwa said. “At a country level, the opportunity is closer to four million. That leaves roughly three million people still to be connected.”

Safaricom expects the segment to grow by as much as 50% a year without hitting saturation, with a mix of fibre, 5G fixed wireless and cheaper customer devices.

Safaricom plans to roll out tokenised Wi-Fi access and prepaid fibre in the second half of its financial year, which runs from October to March, allowing customers to buy broadband in time-based bundles instead of committing to monthly plans.

“In the same way we transformed mobile data with flexible pricing, we are now doing the same for fixed,” Ndegwa said. “By changing how we go to market and how we price, we can expand participation and still manage our cost to serve.”

Anampiu joins from Bayobab Kenya, part of MTN Group, where she served as managing director and led fibre network expansion and business restructuring. She has previously held senior roles at Airtel Africa, Orange Kenya, and Bayer East Africa.

Her appointment also supports Safaricom’s broader push to bundle fixed connectivity with ICT, cloud and IoT services for small and medium-sized businesses, a segment the company sees as underserved.

Fixed broadband and enterprise services, Ndegwa said, are key to ensuring customers “buy outcomes, not products” as Safaricom tightens integration across its consumer, business and public sector offerings.