Safaricom has significantly expanded the retail availability of its 5G home internet routers, now selling them for KES 2,999 in all Naivas supermarkets nationwide. This aggressive strategy aims to make 5G a dominant home internet choice, potentially cannibalizing Safaricom's own Home Fibre service.

• The 5G router, which previously cost over KES 20,000, is now priced at KES 2,999, featuring Wi-Fi 6 and a 3-4 hour built-in battery.
• This retail expansion follows a similar partnership with Quickmart earlier in the year, placing devices in over 171 supermarket outlets.
• Safaricom’s 5G Wi-Fi offers 50 Mbps with a 1.5 TB FUP for KES 4,000, while Home Fibre provides 30 Mbps with a 1 TB FUP for KES 4,100, making 5G a more competitive option.
• The main "gotcha" for the entry-level KES 2,999 10Mbps 5G plan is a small 250GB data cap, likely pushing users to upgrade to higher allowances.

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has confirmed an active investigation into an alleged massive data breach involving the mobile health-wallet platform M-Tiba. Reports suggest that highly sensitive medical and personal data of up to 4.8 million Kenyans was exfiltrated and offered for sale online.

• Alleged data leak involves 2.15 terabytes of data, including patient diagnoses, National ID numbers, full names, and telephone numbers.
• The ODPC is "actively engaging with the Data Processor, M-Tiba and other stakeholders to establish the full facts."
• The breach, if substantiated, could lead to significant legal and financial consequences for M-Tiba under the Data Protection Act 2019.

Meta has partnered with Safaricom to make the Kenyan telecommunications company the landing partner for a new submarine cable connecting Kenya and Oman. This is Meta’s second significant undersea cable investment in Kenya, solidifying Safaricom’s repositioning as a technology company.

• The partnership enhances Safaricom’s role in enterprise cloud, data hosting, and edge computing.
• The new cable provides Kenya with increased redundancy and the ability to host and process large volumes of data locally.
• For Meta, the cable improves network performance for its platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, and supports its long-term strategy for internet infrastructure.