Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) is transforming the regulatory environment for the country’s courier and delivery sector, moving decisively in 2025 and into 2026 to bring technology driven platforms under a dedicated legal framework while weeding out non-compliant operators across the board.
The foundation of the new framework is a courier hailing service provider license introduced through the Postal and Courier Services Regulations 2025. Under the regulations, the courier hailing license applies to entities that operate platforms dedicated to linking businesses or individual customers with courier service providers when they need items delivered, covering web based and other digital platforms. The license carries an initial fee of Ksh100,000, annual operating fees of Ksh100,000 or 0.4 percent of gross annual audited turnover, whichever is higher, and a universal service levy of 0.5 percent of gross annual turnover, with the license valid for ten years.
The CA described the move as the “introduction of a courier-hailing service provider license targeting companies that leverage technology to manage courier services by linking customers with collection and delivery service providers,” citing the need to update laws that had been in force since 2008 and did not account for technology driven business models. The new permit becomes the fourth license category in Kenya’s courier sector, alongside public postal operators, international postal courier operators, and national postal courier operators.
The regulatory push has been matched with enforcement. In January 2026, the CA revoked the operating licenses of 29 national courier and postal service providers after finding they failed to meet regulatory requirements under the Kenya Information and Communications Act. Under a Gazette Notice dated 6 January 2026, the revocations took effect seven days after publication, barring the affected companies from offering courier or postal services nationwide.
The notice, signed by CA Director General and CEO David Mugonyi, warned that upon revocation, the licensees “shall not be authorized to operate and provide the services as indicated in the table above,” with any resources held under those licenses reverting to the Authority.
This was not the first such crackdown. In June 2025, the CA had already blacklisted and moved to revoke licenses of 13 courier firms for similar non-compliance, with analysts noting the broader enforcement push is designed to weed out operators that fail to meet regulatory benchmarks or compromise service quality and financial transparency.
The CA published a new Telecommunication Market Structure in January 2026, signaling that the regulatory overhaul extends well beyond courier services and reflects a broader intent to modernize the country’s communications licensing architecture. For delivery platforms operating in Kenya’s rapidly growing digital commerce space, the message from the regulator in 2026 is unambiguous: compliance is no longer optional.
