Telco jobs slowdown: Sector sees a 2.4% dip in three months to June -CA

By Steve UMIDHA

 

Kenya’s IT services industry, particularly the mobile sub-sector, is experiencing a slowdown in hiring, declining in three months to June 2025, despite the country’s telecommunications sub-sector experiencing significant growth during the 2024/25 Financial year, with the growth being attributed to the expansion of telecom infrastructure and increased adoption of smartphones.

 

Aaccording to the latest industry figures by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the number of persons employed by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in Kenya declined by 2.4 percent to 11,710 in 3 months of June 2025.

 

An estimated 9,163 Kenyans were employed in the sector by June, 2021, rising to 9, 352 a year later and accelerating  to 10,526 in 2023. The hiring spree peaked in 2024 when the sector is reported to have employed about 11,997 individuals last year, according to CA.

 

The tech and telecoms sectors have been undergoing one of the most turbulent years in recent memory, with layoffs hitting tens of thousands of employees not just in Kenya but across global markets.

 

A primary driver behind the current shift in tech employment, for instance, is the accelerating integration of AI and automation technologies, according to Priyal Walpita, an expert in blockchain and cybersecurity services.

 

“These innovations have dramatically increased productivity and efficiency across various functions, enabling companies to achieve or surpass prior output levels with leaner teams.

 

Industry executives have publicly acknowledged the role of AI in enhancing the productivity of their technical staff, with Salesforce mentioning that AI has made their software engineers more productive, indicating a direct correlation between technological adoption and workforce size adjustments.”

 

Cyber Attacks

 

The report further found that the danger of cybercrime and security breaches still looms over several Kenyan businesses like a slow-moving storm, with over 4.6 billion cyber-attacks detected during the three months under review, up from 2.5billion in the previous quarter – an 81 percent jump.

 

The report also found that malware propagation surged during that period, with the .ke domains worst hit, infiltrating systems with harmful software, while phishing attacks became even more prevalent, targeting unsuspecting users through deceptive emails and websites.

 

The authority, in its findings, also noted that hackers commonly target to steal user logins, credit card credentials, and other types of personal and financial information, as well as gain access to private databases – a common leitmotif, judging by the worrying tendency, may well persist.