Safaricom has announced the appointment of Sylvia Anampiu as Director of Fixed Business, signaling a major strategic shift in how the telecommunications giant intends to capture Kenya’s burgeoning home and office internet market.
Anampiu, who officially assumed the role on January 5, joins Safaricom at a pivotal moment. Her appointment coincides with the company’s ambitious plan to move away from traditional, rigid monthly fiber subscriptions toward a more flexible “pay-as-you-go” model that mirrors the success of its mobile data pricing.
Under Anampiu’s leadership, Safaricom is set to introduce tokenized Wi-Fi access and prepaid fiber options. This new approach—expected to roll out fully between now and March—will allow customers to purchase broadband in daily or weekly increments.
The goal is to lower the barrier to entry for millions of Kenyan households, particularly those outside high-income neighborhoods who may find monthly fixed costs prohibitive.
“In the same way we transformed mobile data with flexible pricing, we are now doing the same for fixed,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa. “By changing how we go to market and how we price, we can expand participation and still manage our cost to serve.”
The stakes for this transition are high. Safaricom currently serves just over 400,000 fixed broadband customers in a national market that totals roughly 1.2 million users. However, Ndegwa identifies a much larger horizon: a potential market of 4 million connections nationwide.
To bridge this gap, Safaricom aims to:
- Triple the market size over the next five years.
- Achieve 50% annual growth in the fixed segment.
- Integrate technologies, utilizing a mix of fiber-to-the-home, 5G fixed wireless, and more affordable customer-premise equipment.
Anampiu brings a wealth of regional experience to the role. She transitions to Safaricom from Bayobab Kenya (MTN Group), where she served as Managing Director and spearheaded significant fiber network expansions and business restructuring. Her career also includes high-level tenures at Airtel Africa, Orange Kenya, and Bayer East Africa.
In her new capacity, Anampiu will oversee strategy, growth, and profitability for both residential and enterprise connectivity. A key focus will be the SME sector, where Safaricom plans to bundle fiber with value-added services like cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.