The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has asked Parliament to reject the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2025, warning that a plan meant to protect internet users could end up costing them more money and more privacy.
Presenting its memorandum to the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation, a delegation led by Ben Roberts, Chair of the KEPSA ICT Sector Board, accepted the Bill’s consumer protection goal but argued that moving flat-rate broadband to utility-style metered billing does far more harm than good.
The Bill, sponsored by Aldai MP Marianne Kitany, would require internet providers to assign each customer a unique meter number, track their data usage, and bill them based on consumption.
Providers would also have to submit annual reports on their billing systems to the Communications Authority. Those that fail to comply would face a KES 5 million fine. The Bill aims to “mitigate exploitation and secure the economic interests of internet users.”
On privacy, critics fear the meter number would tie each user’s identity to a running record of their internet use.
Operators already hold subscribers’ names, ID numbers, and addresses, so metering would sit beside a database that identifies each user, producing a lasting record of who is online, when, and how much.
The Bill does not require providers to record what people send or read, nor does it authorize live monitoring, but it is silent on how long records are kept, who can see them, and how users can correct errors.
READ: Parliament Advances Bill to Meter and Track Your Internet Usage
Amnesty Kenya warns it could hand the government a record tying verified identities to internet habits, and the International Commission of Jurists Kenya fears profiling and self-censorship among journalists and activists.
KEPSA has also flagged the possible use of deep packet inspection, a tool that examines traffic in detail, though the Bill does not demand it.
The strain on pockets and networks is just as real. Most fixed broadband is sold at a set price for a given speed, with entry-level home plans costing roughly KES 1,500 to KES 4,200 a month, so a household pays the same however much it streams.
Metering could bring caps, higher charges for people who use more, and bills that swing from month to month.
Poa! Internet, an internet service provider, has told lawmakers it would “significantly raise consumer costs,” which is a big concern for freelancers, tutors, developers, and young people who earn online.
Providers would also need new billing, storage, and security systems that big operators absorb more easily than small or rural ISPs, and KEPSA argues the cost would be passed to customers, leaving less competition and less money for network growth.
Writing one billing model into law could also leave the regulator unable to adapt as technology changes.
Consumers would benefit from clearer invoices because they would make it easier to resolve billing disputes. However, itemized bills, independent audits, refunds for overbilling, and reports to the regulator could achieve much the same without linking usage records to individual identities.
If Parliament goes ahead with metering, it should set clear safeguards, including limits on how long data is kept, strict controls on who can access it, prompt notification of data breaches, and a ban on checking message content for billing purposes.
