The government plans to deploy an internal communication platform, JamboTel, to ease information flow among its agencies and departments and reduce costs, potentially cutting an important revenue stream for telecommunication firms in the country.
The National Treasury has disclosed that the rollout will happen once the State completes laying its backbone fibre optic cable, which is expected to link every public institution and office to the internet.
JamboTel will be a voice-over-internet (VoIP) platform, allowing State officers to communicate freely without incurring airtime costs, a move that could save the government billions of shillings annually in communication expenses.
VoIP is a technology that allows users to make voice calls using a broadband internet connection instead of a regular (or analogue) phone line.
“The JamboTel secure communication system will be deployed to all government institutions, enhancing coordination and reducing communication costs,” the National Treasury revealed in a recently published budget policy plan for 2026.
It is not clear how much the government spends each year on internal communication, but the figure is estimated to run into billions of shillings. The State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications, which is responsible for coordinating intra-government communication, receives at least Sh4 billion every year for this function.
Individual State agencies, corporations and departments also maintain their own communication budgets, which are not usually explicitly disclosed as covering airtime or internal communications.
The government has, in the past, acknowledged challenges with internal communication and information coordination between different State organs, prompting the push to invest in improved channels.
Among the key communication challenges identified by the Ministry of ICT in a recent strategy document is “weak internal communications mechanisms leading to uncoordinated messaging hierarchy, conflicting messaging, and public engagement.”
The ministry said it plans to procure an internal communication tracker portal by June 2028, although no specifics were provided on how the portal will function or what exactly it will do.
Three senior officers at the ICT ministry, responsible for infrastructure, systems and innovation, told Business Daily that while they are aware of plans to implement an internal communication platform for the government, they are not aware of any progress made so far, nor of the JamboTel brand name.
While the system is expected to lower costs and streamline processes for the government, it is also likely to cut into voice revenue streams for telcos Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom and Faiba, given that the State is the largest spender in the economy across most sectors.
Kenya, however, is not alone in this shift. Globally, governments are moving away from siloed, analogue communication processes within State organs towards unified and secure internal communication platforms.
India, for instance, rolled out Sandes last year, an instant messaging system designed to be secure and serve as a sovereign alternative to commercial messaging platforms. Nigeria and Ireland have also recently introduced similar systems.
In Kenya’s case, the rollout hinges heavily on connecting State institutions and offices to internet access through last-mile fibre optic cable. The project targets 100,000 kilometres by the end of next year.
So far, the State has laid 80,633 kilometres of fibre optic cable across the country, connecting at least 82 hospitals and 1,114 public schools to the internet.
