Safaricom has confirmed it is privately arranging fuel supply with select oil marketing companies in Kenya, a quiet but telling move designed to keep its base stations running while the country’s petroleum supply tightens.
The disclosure came from Group Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal, who told Business Daily that the telco “consumes a lot of fuel running sites” and is working with oil marketers to guarantee supply because it considers itself a “critical service provider.” Pal framed the arrangement as short term, saying it is meant to ensure availability “for some time” while the market stabilises.
The context matters. Kenya imports every drop of its fuel through Mombasa, sourced almost entirely from the Middle East under government-to-government deals with Saudi Aramco, ENOC, and ADNOC. Since the Iran war disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, around 20% of Kenya’s 3,100 fuel retailers have reported supply constraints, with rural petrol stations closing temporarily due to stockouts. EPRA has held pump prices at KES 178.28 for super petrol and KES 166.54 for diesel for the current cycle, but that price freeze has reportedly nudged some oil marketers towards hoarding.
For Safaricom, this is not a theoretical problem. The company closed its financial year in March 2026 with 24,479 base stations in Kenya, spanning 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G. A meaningful slice of those sites still relies on diesel generators, either as the primary power source in off-grid areas or as backup during the country’s frequent blackouts.
Why the solar story does not cover everything
Safaricom has been pushing hard to wean its network off diesel. We already covered how over 1,500 base stations have been converted to solar power, a programme that has cut diesel use across the network by 39% and is targeting full solarisation by 2030. The company also raised KES 20 billion in a green bond on the NSE last December, with proceeds explicitly earmarked for 5G rollout and the solarisation of network sites.
But solar covers roughly 6% of the total site count today. The other 94% still leans on the grid, on backup generators, or on both. When the grid wobbles, which it does often, the generators kick in. And generators need diesel.
That is the gap the oil marketer arrangement is plugging. It is not a long-term strategy. It is operational risk management while two structural shifts, solar conversion and Kenya’s broader petroleum supply chain, work themselves out.
Ethiopia is in a different position
Pal made a point of contrasting the Kenyan situation with Safaricom Ethiopia, which closed the year with 3,504 base stations. According to Pal, 98% of Ethiopian sites run on grid electricity, which is itself largely hydro-powered. “The dependency on fuel for Ethiopia is not material,” he said. So while the parent company is scrambling to lock in fuel supply at home, the Ethiopian subsidiary is largely unaffected by the shipping disruption.
What this actually means for users
For ordinary customers, the practical takeaway is simple. Safaricom is doing the unglamorous work to make sure your calls connect and your M-PESA transactions go through, even as the fuel crisis bites. The arrangement with oil marketers is essentially the company using its scale and “critical service provider” status to jump the queue when supply is rationed.
The broader picture is harder to ignore. Energy makes up as much as 60% of operating costs for telecom towers in off-grid areas across Africa, according to GSMA. Every diesel-dependent site is exposed to global oil shocks, currency moves, theft, and transport headaches. The faster Safaricom finishes its solar transition, the smaller this exposure becomes. For now, watch how long the oil marketer arrangement holds, and whether EPRA’s next pricing cycle in mid-May forces a different conversation entirely.
