Safaricom has appointed Sylvia Anampiu as director of fixed business, tech publication TechMoran reports, adding that Safaricom is rolling out pay-as-you-go fibre internet for homes and offices.
The move comes as Safaricom plans to shift fixed internet from rigid monthly subscriptions to daily, weekly and monthly pricing, mirroring the flexible model that helped drive mass adoption of mobile data in Kenya. The company sees the approach as critical to unlocking growth in a market it believes remains significantly underpenetrated.
Anampiu, who took up the role on January 5, is responsible for strategy, growth and profitability across Safaricom’s fixed broadband operations, covering both household and enterprise connectivity. She will also oversee new pricing structures aimed at lowering barriers for customers outside Kenya’s higher-income urban neighbourhoods.
Safaricom chief executive Peter Ndegwa has said fixed broadband sits at the centre of the group’s next growth phase as mobile revenues mature.
“We have just over 400,000 customers on fixed broadband today, in a market that is only serving about 1.2 million,” Ndegwa said in December. “At a country level, the opportunity is closer to four million.”
That gap — roughly three million potential connections — underpins Safaricom’s ambition to triple the size of Kenya’s fixed broadband market over the next five years. The company believes the segment can grow by as much as 50 per cent annually without approaching saturation, supported by a mix of fibre, 5G fixed wireless access and lower-cost customer devices.
Safaricom plans to introduce tokenised Wi-Fi access and prepaid fibre in the second half of its financial year, which runs from October to March, allowing customers to purchase broadband in time-based bundles rather than committing to long-term contracts.
“In the same way we transformed mobile data with flexible pricing, we are now doing the same for fixed,” Ndegwa said, adding that the strategy allows Safaricom to broaden access while managing costs.
Anampiu joins from Bayobab Kenya, part of South Africa’s 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, bringing more than two decades of experience across telecommunications and enterprise services.
Her appointment also aligns with Safaricom’s push to bundle fixed connectivity with ICT, cloud and internet-of-things services for small and medium-sized businesses, a segment the company sees as underserved as it tightens integration across its consumer, enterprise and public-sector offerings.
