Safaricom Plc is working with select oil marketing companies to ensure supply of fuel to keep its sites operational in the wake of elevated risks in availability of petroleum products. This comes amid supply chain disruptions following the war on Iran.
A site, otherwise known as a base station, refers to the physical structure that creates a signal and provides coverage which then enables consumers to make calls, send messages and connect to the internet.
The listed telco says that as an entity categorised as a critical service provider per the Kenya Information and Communications Act, it is important that there is certainty around its service provision even in the wake of significant shocks such as the one currently being experienced following the war on Iran.
“We are a telecoms operator and we do consume a lot of fuel running sites and the availability of sites is of paramount importance for us and that is what we are dealing with now. We are working with some of the oil marketing companies to see that we are able to get the quantity that we need, especially because we are a critical service provider,” Safaricom chief financial officer Dilip Pal told the Business Daily.
Safaricom Kenya closed the full year ended March 2026 with a total of 24,479 base stations of which 7,540 were 2G, 7,536 were 3G, 7,524 were 4G and 1,879 were 5G.
“It’s not necessarily for long but we are working with some oil marketers to ensure that we have availability of fuel for some time,” Dilip says.
The telco’s arrangement with select oil marketing companies in the country comes in the wake of intermittent stock outs of petroleum products across parts of the country, following the war in the Middle East.
“The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum wishes to inform the public that the temporary fuel supply challenges experienced in isolated filling stations in some parts of the country arose from a technical and administrative hitch. This curtailed optimal uptake of petroleum products by a few oil marketing companies operating in the downstream of the supply chain,” the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said in a statement released on May 6.
The statement came one week after the government had announced a temporary waiver of standards on the Sulphur parameter of petroleum product to the maximum limit of 50.0 milligram per kilogramme for Diesel and Super for six months.
“Owing to constraints occasioned by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, including disruption to supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, and the need to safeguard continuous supply of fuel critical to the economy, the Ministry of Investments, Trade & Industry has approved a request to temporarily waive the Sulphur parameter to the maximum limit for a period of 6 months,” the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said in a statement released on April 30.
Safaricom, however, says that its Ethiopian subsidiary is adequately cushioned and therefore under no immediate pressure to work with oil marketing companies to ensure security of supply.
“The dependency on fuel for Ethiopia is not material. It’s very tiny because it is a green grid and 98.0 percent of our sites are powered through electricity. So, the dependency on fuel in Ethiopia is not much,” Dilip says.
Safaricom Ethiopia closed the year ended March 2026 with 3,504 base stations having grown 18.3 percent from the number of base stations a year earlier.
→ jamboko@ke.nationmedia.com
Follow ourWhatsApp channel for the latest business and markets updates.
Unlock a world of exclusive content today!Unlock a world of exclusive content today!
