Kenya Wants New Licence Rules for Alarm Systems and Data Centres

Kenya is preparing new licence rules for alarm systems and data centres, with the Communications Authority of Kenya proposing a new annual charge for GSM-based alarms while giving data centres a standalone licence of their own.

The CA has opened consultations on both proposals, which affect very different parts of the country's digital infrastructure. For security companies, the change would bring the GSM equipment used to send alerts from customers' homes and businesses to monitoring centres into a formal regulatory framework. For data centres, it would replace the current licensing arrangement with a category designed specifically for the facilities.

The alarm proposal comes as security companies increasingly move from older VHF systems to GSM. The CA says inspections carried out between 2023 and 2026 found this shift, with operators turning to mobile networks because they offer wider coverage and equipment that is easier to install and maintain. Under the proposed framework, companies would pay Sh680 per GSM-based alarm unit each year, with the charge calculated in groups of five. The fee would cover registration, inspections, compliance checks and the ICT systems used to administer the regime.

The CA is also asking the industry whether Sh680 is appropriate and whether charging in groups of five makes sense. That consultation covers the equipment connecting an alarm at a customer's premises to the monitoring centre, rather than the wider security services provided by the company.

Colocation data centres currently fall under the Network Facilities Provider Tier 2 licence, which carries an initial fee of Sh15 million. The CA wants to move them out of that category and create a standalone data-centre licence, arguing that the facilities have a different role from traditional telecommunications networks.

The proposed licence would cost Sh5,000 to apply for and Sh100,000 initially, with a 15-year term. Operators would then pay Sh80,000 a year or 0.4% of gross turnover, whichever is higher. Companies that already hold Network Facilities Provider or Application Service Provider licences would also be able to operate data centres without obtaining the separate licence.

The difference in the upfront fee is hard to miss: Sh15 million under the current NFP Tier 2 licence, compared with Sh100,000 under the proposed data-centre category. The CA says the standalone framework would give it clearer oversight of the sector while better reflecting what data centres actually provide, from computing and storage to power and cooling infrastructure.

Both proposals are now under consultation. The CA has given stakeholders 30 days to comment on the data-centre framework, while the alarm-system proposal is also being put to affected operators before the regulator finalises the rules.