Telkom Kenya today announced a partnership with Ericsson and NEC XON to deepen mobile broadband connectivity in Kenya, as part of Telkom Kenya’s strategy to accelerate digital transformation in Kenya and bridge the digital divide. The company is targeting to establish 2000 additional 4G sites in Kenya by the year 2023, estimated to cost $100 million (Kshs 11.13 billion). The partnership will see the company expand its 4G/LTE coverage fourfold, from its current total of 590 4G sites.
Kibati said the project will be funded by both organic funding from the business, and inorganic fundraising to finance the network expansion. According to Telkom, the network expansion initiative will help its customer participate in the virtual world, bridging the gap of network access and affordability.
The network roll-out partnership with NEC XON and Ericcson is part of Telkom Kenya’s long term strategy to increase investments in fibre structure, mobile network, and mobile financial services with a goal of enhancing service provision and customer experience. The latest 4G expansion plan will scale up 80% of Telkom’s network to 4G.
“Two of our commitments are to better position our infrastructure asset base and services to drive digital transformation within our various Customer segments thus providing them with more value, as well as bridge the digital divide through the expansion of our Mobile Data network. We are already working on the upgrade and expansion of our network at the Coast. The partnership we have signed today will see Telkom and our partners kick off a new network expansion project, guided by our long-term growth strategy”
CEO Mugo Kibati
Speaking on the partnership, Todd Ashton, Ericcson Vice President and Managing Director for South and East Africa said the network access journey in Kenya is unique in its reliance on mobile networks, hence the need to expand mobile broadband. The collaboration will increase mobile coverage and provide a seamless data experience for Kenyans.
“Telkom and Ericsson have a close, collaborative and visionary relationship spanning many years. Our latest collaboration will increase mobile coverage across the country, to provide a seamless data experience to Kenyans. In line with Kenya’s Vision 2030, more people will have access to affordable Internet that will enable business continuity for people and enterprises contributing to the economic growth in Kenya and in setting #AfricaInMotion. This is just the beginning, with the LTE expansion setting the foundation to deploy 5G in the future,” said Ashton.
Willem Wentzel, ZEN XON’s General Manager says the network rollout partnership with Telkom “augments Telkom’s existing network infrastructure by delivering world=classs quality of experience (QoE) to more customers across a much wider coverage area.”
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