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Zuku loses over 24,000 subscribers in internet and pay TV markets
From left: Wananchi Group CEO Genue Mwaura (left),CEO of AXIAN Telecom Group Hassan Jaber (centre) and CEO of Axian Telecom Fibre Bertrand Lacroix addressing journalists during the official announcement of Axian Group's acquisition of Wananchi Group (Zuku) at Panari Hotel in Nairobi on November 5, 2025.
Wananchi Group, trading as Zuku, shed more than 24,000 customers in the three months to September despite a much-touted takeover that was expected to turn around the company and lift service quality.
Zuku lost significant market share across all three of its services —fixed internet, direct-to-home (DTH) and cable television— surrendering ground to rivals even in segments it once firmly dominated.
Industry data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows the steepest decline was in cable TV, where Zuku lost 30 percent of its customers, with subscriptions falling from 66,212 to 44,593, a loss of 21,619 users.
In the DTH (satellite TV) segment, its second largest in Kenya, Wananchi lost 1,591 customers, ceding ground to Multichoice’s DStv, which grew its subscriptions by a record 43 percent, as well as to Azam and StarTimes.
The company also lost customers in the fixed internet market, its largest business by subscriber numbers. Its market share fell to 11.8 percent from 12.7 percent in June, after a further 1,562 customers left the network.
Wananchi Group’s subscriber numbers have fluctuated over time amid quality concerns, with customers reporting intermittent and unexplained downtimes, particularly in the fixed internet segment.
The company's takeover by Mauritian telecommunications firm Axian Telecom Fibre Limited, long in the pipeline, had been expected to rejuvenate confidence in Wananchi and revive a growth trajectory that was disrupted when Safaricom and Jamii Telecom ate into its dominance in less than five years.
Axian, which recently bought Tanzania’s Tigo and Zantel and merged them to form Yas, secured regulatory approval last month to acquire a 99 percent stake in Wananchi Group. This marked the Mauritian operator’s entry into the Kenyan telecommunications market.
Experts had projected that Axian’s entry would help restore Zuku’s lost glory, especially in the internet business, where it was once the country’s leading service provider, by injecting new capital to repair ageing infrastructure blamed for service disruptions and prolonged downtimes.
“The brand’s (Zuku’s) biggest Achilles heel has always been service quality: frequent outages, inconsistent speeds and customer frustration. Yas [Axian] must address these issues head-on if it hopes to win back trust,” noted tech commentator Moses Kemibaro in a recent blog.
“Given Yas’ strong marketing playbook in Tanzania –bold, lifestyle-driven and digital-first– this could inject fresh energy into a brand that desperately needs reinvention.”
Over the quarter to September, only Safaricom, Ahadi Wireless, Vilcom Network and Mawingu Networks, which itself welcomed a new shareholder during the period, grew their market share; every other player either stagnated or declined.
