A bill working its way through Kenya's National Assembly could change how every ISP in the country is legally allowed to charge for internet access. The Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2025 would make consumption-based billing mandatory -- charging customers by how much data they actually use, rather than the fixed-rate and speed-tiered packages most Kenyan ISPs sell today. This week, ISP representatives appeared before MPs on the National Assembly's Communication, Information and Innovation Committee to make the case against it.
What the bill would actually require
The core proposal is straightforward on paper: internet billing should be metered by usage, the same way electricity or water is billed. In practice, ISPs told lawmakers that meeting that requirement isn't a policy switch you flip -- it demands real infrastructure. Providers would need Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems capable of measuring, in near real time, exactly how much data each customer's connection consumes, plus billing platforms sophisticated enough to translate that usage into accurate, disputable charges at scale. That's a materially different technical bar than tracking whether a subscription is active or expired, which is what most current billing setups are built around.
Why ISPs are pushing back
The objection isn't philosophical -- it's about cost and what customers would lose. Providers argued the bill, as written, would force the industry to retire unlimited broadband packages, which are what most Kenyan households and small businesses currently budget around. And DPI infrastructure isn't cheap to deploy or maintain; ISPs were direct with MPs that the investment required would likely be passed straight through to subscribers as higher monthly prices, working against the affordability goals the bill is nominally meant to serve.
What ISPs asked for instead
Rather than a blanket mandate, providers urged the committee to preserve customer choice: let ISPs continue offering flat-rate, unlimited plans alongside usage-based options, and focus the regulation on giving customers clearer visibility into their own consumption rather than forcing everyone onto metered billing by law. The bill is still under committee review, with stakeholder input ongoing before it can advance to full parliamentary debate -- so the final shape of any requirement is still genuinely open.
The real lesson, regardless of how this lands
Whatever Parliament ultimately decides, this debate is a useful reminder for every ISP operator, not just those in Kenya: billing regulation can change the rules with real deadlines attached, and the ISPs best positioned to adapt are the ones whose billing infrastructure was never rigidly built around one pricing model in the first place. A platform that already supports flexible package structures, per-client overrides, and prepaid as well as subscription billing -- like XpressRADIUS -- has far less ground to cover if usage-based billing ever does become a real requirement, compared to a system hard-coded around flat monthly plans. Building billing infrastructure that can flex with regulation, not just with growth, is quietly becoming a competitive advantage of its own.
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