• Kenya’s Poa Internet secures $4M from Finland’s Finnfund
• Funding to expand broadband in low-income, rural areas
• Nokia supports infrastructure rollout; operator has 238,000 subscribers

Kenyan internet provider Poa Internet, the fourth-largest operator in the country with over 238,000 subscribers, announced on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, that it has secured $4 million in funding.

The investment comes from Finnfund, a Finnish development financier. The funds will be used to strengthen the operator's network and expand its broadband service offerings in a country where internet access is still limited, despite rapidly growing demand.

This funding follows a visit by Finnish President Alexander Stubb to the company's facilities in Nairobi on May 13, 2025. During his visit, Stubb highlighted Poa Internet's role in providing wireless residential internet to households in low-income and rural areas of East Africa.

Finnish technology company Nokia is the company’s primary fiber optic technology partner, playing a key role in the Kenyan internet provider’s infrastructure deployment and innovation support.

According to Kelvin Kiiru, an investment associate at Finnfund, the financing aims to support the expansion of Poa Internet's broadband offering in low-income areas to close the digital divide. Since its inception in 2016, Poa Internet has steadily grown its presence in the Kenyan market by targeting populations often overlooked by traditional operators.

A Growing Internet Market

Africa remains the world's least-connected region. In 2023, 34% of Africans used the internet compared to 66% globally, according to the International Telecommunication Union. The gap is particularly wide in rural areas, which often lack mobile or fiber optic networks.

The World Bank estimates that 45% of Africa's population lives more than 10 kilometers from a fiber network, making it difficult to extend quality connectivity to isolated regions. The cost of mobile data in Sub-Saharan Africa is also a major obstacle. In 2024, the median price for one gigabyte of mobile data represented 3.5% of the average monthly income in the region.

Kenya is among the continent's most dynamic internet markets. At the beginning of 2024, approximately 22.7 million Kenyans were using the internet, a penetration rate of about 40.8%. Mobile connections dominate, driven by high cellphone penetration, but fixed broadband subscriptions are also growing. Poa Internet, with support from Finnfund and Nokia, aims to accelerate this momentum to reduce access disparities and strengthen its role in the local market.

Chamberline Moko