For millions of Kenyans, the mobile phone is now a gateway to the Internet, money and digital services. That is making the cost of connectivity—and the risks of fraud and identity theft—increasingly important consumer concerns alongside basic network quality.
Telecommunications remained the largest source of escalated consumer complaints in Kenya in the fourth quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya’s latest report. The regulator received 670 complaints between April and June 2026, up from 563 in the previous quarter and 362 in October–December 2025. It resolved 548 complaints, or 82%, while 122 remained under regulatory follow-up.
Telecommunications accounted for 35.7%, followed by digital financial services and mobile money (110), cybercrime (75), broadcasting (42), and postal and courier services (13).
But the figures point to a consumer-protection problem that extends beyond network availability. Increasingly, consumers are raising concerns about billing, fraud, data security and trust as mobile services become more deeply embedded in everyday financial and digital transactions.
That makes telecom failures more consequential than dropped calls or poor connections. As mobile numbers increasingly serve as digital identities, weaknesses in telecom systems can expose consumers to unexpected charges, fraud and identity theft.
Within the telecommunications category, data services generated 195 complaints, dwarfing the 44 related to voice services. The single largest complaint category was data billing and charges, which accounted for 75 cases—more than complaints about service delays, quality of service, interruptions or network inaccessibility individually.
The Authority said the complaints point to growing concerns about whether consumers are receiving value for money, with billing disputes increasingly linked to perceptions of service quality.
Beyond billing disputes, the report also highlights a broader shift in the risks facing Kenya’s digital economy, as telecom infrastructure becomes more closely intertwined with financial services.
Digital financial services and mobile money generated 110 complaints during the quarter, including 86 cases involving fraud and scams.
The regulator also recorded 75 cybercrime complaints, reflecting what the Authority described as an evolution from traditional scam calls and text messages to more sophisticated attacks involving phishing, impersonation, fake promotions, social engineering, fraudulent mobile-money transactions and online marketplace scams.
Rather than treating telecom fraud and financial fraud as separate issues, the Authority increasingly frames them as interconnected risks.
A major reason is the growing importance of mobile numbers as digital identity credentials. Beyond making calls, SIM cards now provide access to mobile wallets, government services, banking platforms and online accounts.
The Authority warned that unauthorised SIM replacement, identity theft, compromised subscriber identities and weak customer-verification processes are becoming significant consumer-protection concerns.
Data privacy is also emerging as a separate regulatory challenge. During the quarter, the Authority received 19 complaints relating to data breaches, alongside 10 complaints about confidentiality and privacy violations and another 10 involving the unauthorised sharing of personal information.
The figures suggest consumer concerns are expanding beyond connectivity into how personal data is collected, managed and protected.
Cybercrime complaints were concentrated on digital platforms. Of the 75 cases recorded, 43 involved social media while 13 related to online abuse, underscoring the growing role of online platforms in the country’s consumer risk environment.
The report also flagged complaints about customer-premises equipment, including faulty modems, underperforming routers and technically unapproved devices. The Authority said such equipment can affect not only service quality but also network integrity and cybersecurity.
Broadcasting generated 42 complaints, with content standards, quality of service and frequency interference among the leading issues, while postal and courier services recorded 13 complaints.
As telecom operators increasingly become custodians of consumers’ digital identities rather than simply providers of connectivity, the regulator suggests that protecting subscribers will require stronger security measures as much as better network quality.
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