The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2015–2025
Poa's $13 unlimited internet bet: 12,000 homes in 2022, 198,609 by 2025
Poa bet Nairobi's low-income estates would pay for half-price unlimited broadband: 12,000 customers in 2022 grew to 198,609 — 12.6% of Kenya's fixed internet.
Poa Internet
What the business is
A Kenyan internet service provider that strings fiber into low- and middle-income Nairobi neighborhoods and sells unlimited fixed broadband at about $13 per month — roughly half the market rate — plus $0.18-per-GB public Wi-Fi.
How it started
Poa Internet has operated in Kenya since 2015, led by co-founder and CEO Andy Halsall, on the observation that affordability — not coverage — was Africa's real connectivity gap. Sub-Saharan Africa had some of the world's most expensive internet, and Poa's answer was a service designed around a meaningful experience: 4mbps, fast enough for Netflix, YouTube and video calls, sold as unlimited for about $13 a month — roughly half what rivals charged — with public Wi-Fi at about $0.18 per GB, around a tenth of telcos' prices for non-expiring data.
What happened
In 2020 Poa beat 673 other proposals to win Africa50's innovation challenge for last-mile connectivity, earning a cash prize and a place in the infrastructure investor's pipeline. Slightly over a year later, Africa50 led a $28M Series C with early backer Novastar Ventures also participating, taking Poa's total funding to $36M; the company then served over 12,000 customers (homes and small businesses) in Nairobi's low- and middle-income neighborhoods plus tens of thousands more through street Wi-Fi, and said the money would fund expansion first across Kenya, then the continent.
How it ended up
Still live and growing: as of Communications Authority data reported on 2025-01-27, Poa had 198,609 fixed-broadband subscribers, a 12.6% share of Kenya's fixed internet market — behind only Safaricom (36.6%), Jamii (24.4%) and Wananchi/Zuku (16.8%) — with no shutdown or sale recorded in the cited reports.
Background
Poa Internet has operated in Kenya since 2015, led by co-founder and CEO Andy Halsall, on the premise that affordability was Africa's real connectivity problem. Sub-Saharan Africa had some of the world's most expensive internet, and Poa's answer was a fixed-broadband service built around a meaningful experience: 4mbps, fast enough for video, sold as unlimited for about $13 a month — roughly half the market rate — plus street Wi-Fi at about $0.18 per GB.
Poa built in the low- and middle-income Nairobi estates that incumbents such as Safaricom Home, Faiba and Zuku were not serving first, betting that price and the absence of data caps would win homes accustomed only to metered mobile bundles. In 2020 its proposal beat 673 others to win Africa50's last-mile connectivity innovation challenge, adding a cash prize and a slot in the infrastructure investor's pipeline.
In January 2022 Africa50 led a $28M Series C with early backer Novastar Ventures, bringing Poa's total funding to $36M for expansion across Kenya and then the continent; at that point Poa served over 12,000 homes and small businesses plus tens of thousands of street Wi-Fi users.
Communications Authority of Kenya data for July-September 2024, reported by The Kenyan Wallstreet in January 2025, showed the bet had scaled: Poa held 198,609 fixed-broadband subscribers, a 12.6% market share that made it Kenya's fourth-largest fixed internet provider behind Safaricom, Jamii and Wananchi/Zuku.
What has to be true
- Poa competed on price and limits rather than speed wars: 4mbps was deliberately enough for video, and unlimited data at about half the market rate addressed the real complaint of metered mobile users.
- It chose customers incumbents skipped: low- and middle-income Nairobi estates where Safaricom Home, Faiba and Zuku were not building first, so growth did not require outspending the big telcos.
- Beating 673 entries to win Africa50's 2020 challenge put Poa in an investor pipeline that produced a $28M Series C — last-mile connectivity could attract infrastructure capital.
- The regulator's numbers show the wedge became a franchise: 198,609 subscribers made Poa Kenya's fourth-largest fixed internet provider without the marketing budgets of Safaricom or Zuku.
What can be applied
Where incumbents see no market, price can create one: cutting the monthly cost to half and removing data caps turned Nairobi's overlooked estates into Kenya's fourth-largest fixed-broadband franchise.
Aftermath
As of 2025-01-27 Poa Internet remains live and expanding. Communications Authority of Kenya data for July-September 2024, reported by The Kenyan Wallstreet, showed 198,609 fixed-broadband subscribers — a 12.6% market share behind Safaricom (36.6%), Jamii (24.4%) and Wananchi Group/Zuku (16.8%) — up from roughly 12,000 customers when Africa50 led its $28M Series C in January 2022. The cited sources record no shutdown, acquisition or profitability figure; after the round the company's stated trajectory was expansion across Kenya and then into other African markets.
Sources
- Kenyan low-cost ISP Poa Internet secures $28 million in round led by AfDB-backed Africa50
- Starlink Subscribers in Kenya Double in Latest Data
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card