By Raylenne Kambua
The Internet Society Kenya Chapter (ISOC Kenya) hosted the Third National Community Networks Summit from May 13–15, 2026, at the 777 Recreational Centre in Machakos Town. Building on the community-driven spirit of the 2024 Akala and 2025 Mathare editions, the summit convened under the theme: “Innovating for Grassroots Digital Access and Community Connectivity.”
With an estimated 2.6 billion people still offline globally, and Africa accounting for a disproportionate share and with only 35% of Kenya’s entire population online, the summit was a timely reminder that connectivity is not just a technical problem, it is a social, economic and political one. This year’s gathering pushed the conversation further, asking not just how to connect communities, but why and for whom.
Pre-Summit Workshop: From Innovation Ecosystems to Digital Safety
Delegates kicked off the summit with a guided tour of the Konza Technopolis development corridor, offering a vivid look at Kenya’s ambitions for a nationally integrated digital economy. The tour underscored the gap between large-scale digital infrastructure and the grassroots connectivity needs of underserved communities. Speakers from the Open University of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya and ISOC Kenya framed community networks as a critical bridge for populations that commercial providers and ISPs routinely overlook.
Roadmap for Community Networks
The main summit day opened with a vision of where community networks stand and where they need to go. Representatives from ACNke, Communications Authority (CA), APC, ICAAN,AFRALTI, UKAID’s Digital Access Programme and ISOC Global outlined the landscape, stressing that the ecosystem requires not just technical solutions but coherent policy, funding clarity and cross-sector collaboration. A notable highlight raised by Barrack Otieno of ACNke: a 4G pilot project is currently underway in Kajiado, exploring whether community networks could extend beyond wireless hotspots and fibre into full mobile infrastructure, a potential game-changer for rural coverage.
Additionally, the President of ISOC Kenya emphasized that connecting the unconnected is not just about access, but about nation-building. He noted that community networks (CNs) are critical to bridging connectivity gaps, especially in underserved areas, and reaffirmed that the internet has become an essential need across the country. He urged stakeholders to strengthen and expand the community network ecosystem to ensure inclusive and affordable internet access for all.
Community Networks in Kenya — Challenges, Solutions & Stories from the Communities
The most resonant session of the summit gave the floor to community network operators rarely heard in formal policy spaces. Operators from Tanda, Global Innovation Valley, Gonline Africa, Kijiji Yeetu, ALINET and Tech Village shared their journeys. The excitement of connecting a community for the first time, the fatigue of keeping equipment running on shoestring budgets, and the pride of watching a local entrepreneur thrive because of affordable internet access.
Common challenges ran through every testimony: costly and complex spectrum licensing, equipment financing that is nearly inaccessible through conventional channels, persistent vandalism, and a scarcity of locally relevant content in the languages and formats communities actually use. Yet the operators embodied resilience.
“We connected our community not because someone gave us permission. We did it because our people needed it.”
Success, as the panel defined it, looked like a rural school accessing digital learning, a women’s savings group managing finances online, and a farmer checking commodity prices before heading to market. Women were strongly encouraged to enter the space, with speakers pointing to how connectivity has transformed livelihoods, particularly for fishing communities in Kwale County, where it has improved both income and access to information.
Each network measured impact on its own terms. Ateker ties success to sustainability and food security. Global Innovation Valley is anchored by its mission to connect refugees in Turkana. Gonline Africa advances community impact through digital upskilling that extends beyond its immediate location. Kijiji Yeetu envisions a future where students access education and community information without limits. Tanda, rooted in Kibera’s 13 villages, holds that real connectivity means power and internet together because neither works without the other.
Compliance, Licensing, Spectrum & Funding
Regulatory officers from the Communications Authority of Kenya presented the current licensing framework for community networks, including a USF overview and findings from the Broadband Access Gap Study. The CA signalled that regulatory changes in the next financial year could ease barriers, with simplified licensing pathways and potential 4G spectrum access for community deployments on the horizon.
The CA issued a challenge: Reach 100 licensed and operational community networks in Kenya by end of 2026. Regulatory support, technical guidance and USF-backed funding are available for networks that formalise their operations, a signal that the government is ready to treat community networks as serious infrastructure partners, not informal experiments.
Community Network Practices Across Africa
Voices from ISOC chapters in Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania offered a continental perspective on how their ecosystems are evolving, sharing policy wins, funding models that work, and cautionary lessons. Despite differing contexts, the barriers are strikingly similar: licensing complexity, equipment costs, skills gaps and the need for locally relevant content.
Dr. Nazar Nicholus, President of ISOC Tanzania, was emphatic on the question of ownership insisting that sustainable models must be rooted in communities that take pride in building and maintaining their own infrastructure. Kenya’s role as a potential model for the continent, and the responsibility that comes with it, was a thread that ran through the entire session.
Academia & Digital Education for Community Networks
Scholars and educators from the Open University of Kenya and Daystar University examined how universities and vocational institutions can serve as genuine anchors for community networks through curriculum development, practical attachment programmes and embedded innovation labs, not just research outputs. Critically, experts argued that community networks must be part of Kenya’s AI readiness agenda: not as passive recipients of technology, but as active participants shaping how AI reaches the grassroots.
“We need to be bold enough to imagine a Kenya where connectivity is not a privilege but a shared public good that reaches every community.” Professor Carolyne Omulando,
Recognizing the Champions of Community Connectivity
The closing ceremony honoured all community networks, individuals and organisations whose work has advanced grassroots digital access across Kenya and the region. Among the standout recognitions was a certification awarded to the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT Kenya), acknowledged for their sustained contribution to community networks through media, research and storytelling, advancing awareness through journalism, evidence-based research and digital inclusion advocacy.
IAWRT Kenya Contributions:
- Connected Voices Podcast — Tanda CN × DW Akademie × IAWRT Kenya
One of the most tangible outcomes of the community networks ecosystem is Connected Voices, a podcast series produced by Tanda Community Network in partnership with IAWRT Kenya. Made possible by DW Akademie through Colmena which is an offline-first, open-source media toolbox. The series builds on Tanda’s research into community-driven content ecosystems, exploring how local networks can become engines of storytelling, civic media and cultural expression, not just connectivity. It is available across all major streaming platforms.
- IAWRT × APC Research Initiative
With support from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), IAWRT Kenya conducted a study on how community networks and community-interest media can collaborate to accelerate digital inclusion in Kenya. Due for release at the end of May 2026, the research offers evidence-based recommendations for integrating media production, local content creation and digital skills training into community network ecosystems moving the conversation firmly from access to meaningful use.
Leaving Machakos with a Renewed Commitment
The Communications Authority’s challenge to reach 100 licensed and operational community networks by the end of 2026 was an invitation to make progress, backed by policy support, regulatory flexibility and USF funding pathways, it called on Kenya’s CN ecosystem to formalise, scale and prove what grassroots connectivity can truly do.
