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Kenya’s data billions By Frankline Sunday | Published Sun, October 29th 2017 at 02:45, Updated October 29th 2017 at 02:51 GMT +3 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
Global tech giants are scrambling for a piece of Kenya’s multi-billion shilling broadband market, stoking intense competition with local telecommunication service providers. This could also present fresh challenges for policy makers.
ALSO READ: 9 tips on investing when you’re a small business owner
The tech firms including Google, Microsoft and Facebook have in recent past made significant investment by deploying broadband across different parts of the country introducing attractive new offerings for consumers. In the last year, these firms have piloted or launched broadband connectivity projects in Nairobi, Laikipia, Marsabit, Nakuru and Meru counties among others. In August, Google became the latest company to take on Kenyan telcos when it launched Project Loon, the company’s Internet project that uses high-altitude balloons to deliver broadband to underserved areas. The project features specialised balloons, each the size of a tennis court, with solar panels that power the affixed telecommunication equipment flying 20 kilometers above the earth’s surface. The balloons can fly for more than 100 days receiving and redirecting LTE data from base stations on the ground onto users’ phones. Google is partnering with telecommunication service providers to ride on the latter’s cellular spectrum to deliver connectivity. A trend that is becoming a norm among the global over the top service providers.
“There are so many ways we’ll need to approach this problem and there is no silver bullet,” explained Ms Uche Ofodile Regional Head of Africa Express Wi-Fi at Facebook at a recent discussion on Africa’s connectivity challenges held in Nairobi. Express WiFi is part of Facebook’s Internet.org project launched in Kenya in March this year as a public wi-fi hotspot service providing consumers pay-as-you-go Internet services. So far the service under the network dubbed Surfspot, has launched more than 100 Express Wi-Fi hotspots in parts of Ongata Rongai, Limuru, Kiserian, Kitengela, Kiambu, Mlolongo, Ngong, Ruaka, Thika and Wangige with planned expansion into Kisumu and Mombasa. ALSO READ: OPPO A71 officially retailing on open market countrywide The wi-fi hotspots are set up in areas with high pedestrian traffic including bus stops, markets, and around entertainment centres. Anyone with a wi-fi capable device can access Express Wi-Fi whenever there is a hotspot and purchase additional data from contracted agents. Express Wi-Fi also provides users access to Facebook Flex and FreeBasics, a collection of websites including content on news, employment, health, education and local information, for free while on the network. FreeBasics has, however, been met with criticism with regulators in several countries such as India stating that the concept of providing curated websites for free was against the policy of net neutrality. Former ICT Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo and an expert on technology policy has also voiced similar concerns. Dr Ndemo recently cautioned that Kenya risks losing out on lucrative opportunities in developing local content if broadband investment is left solely to foreign investors. “There is a risk in getting total foreign investment in infrastructure because at some point they may give priority to what they want to do yet we are at the stage where we need to develop local content that speaks to us,” explained Ndemo. “People just don’t go online because they want to go online, there must be local content and we need to tell our stories,” he said. “We need to pay through something like private public partnerships but let it be done with the local investors and foreign investors should do it in conjunction with local players.” Another firm angling for a piece of the internet Mawingu Networks, which is funded by the US tech giant Microsoft and US Agency for International Development (USAID). ALSO READ: Safaricom escapes CA fine over glitch The startup uses the white space spectrum, which can penetrate areas other networks can’t. This is particularly useful in urban areas where it can travel through buildings much better than the microwave spectrum. TV White Space spectrum became available after Kenya ditched analogue TV transmission in favour of digital transmission technology, freeing UHF frequencies for reallocation. The startup received an initial grant in 2013, provided through Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative and USAID. Two years after the first phase of support, Mawingu received equity funding from Microsoft, angel investor Jim Forster, and Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. In September 2016, the company received a $4.1 million (Sh410 million) loan from the US government’s development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Currently, Safaricom commands 67 per cent of the country’s Internet market with the number of the firm’s 30-day active users rising from 13 million to 15 million. However, with only 39,255 and 86,139 subscribers connected to fixed broadband and fixed mobile broadband respectively, there are opportunities for service providers to deliver high speed Wi Fi connectivity to consumers’ homes and businesses. “There is the issue of connectivity where we have so many undersea cables but below that there is a big issue around infrastructure expansion,” explained Ms Uche. Uche, however, states that the cost of Internet-enabled devices could be another hindrance to large-scale wi-fi or fibre deployment in under-served areas. “We launched in some markets and found that even though the service was free people were still not coming online because they did not have the devices so affordability is also an issue.”
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001258703/multi-national-tech-giants-scramble-for-kenya-s-data-billions
Global tech giants are scrambling for a piece of Kenya’s multi-billion shilling broadband market, stoking intense competition with local telecommunication service providers. This could also present fresh challenges for policy makers.
ALSO READ: 9 tips on investing when you’re a small business owner
The tech firms including Google, Microsoft and Facebook have in recent past made significant investment by deploying broadband across different parts of the country introducing attractive new offerings for consumers. In the last year, these firms have piloted or launched broadband connectivity projects in Nairobi, Laikipia, Marsabit, Nakuru and Meru counties among others. In August, Google became the latest company to take on Kenyan telcos when it launched Project Loon, the company’s Internet project that uses high-altitude balloons to deliver broadband to underserved areas. The project features specialised balloons, each the size of a tennis court, with solar panels that power the affixed telecommunication equipment flying 20 kilometers above the earth’s surface. The balloons can fly for more than 100 days receiving and redirecting LTE data from base stations on the ground onto users’ phones. Google is partnering with telecommunication service providers to ride on the latter’s cellular spectrum to deliver connectivity. A trend that is becoming a norm among the global over the top service providers.
“There are so many ways we’ll need to approach this problem and there is no silver bullet,” explained Ms Uche Ofodile Regional Head of Africa Express Wi-Fi at Facebook at a recent discussion on Africa’s connectivity challenges held in Nairobi. Express WiFi is part of Facebook’s Internet.org project launched in Kenya in March this year as a public wi-fi hotspot service providing consumers pay-as-you-go Internet services. So far the service under the network dubbed Surfspot, has launched more than 100 Express Wi-Fi hotspots in parts of Ongata Rongai, Limuru, Kiserian, Kitengela, Kiambu, Mlolongo, Ngong, Ruaka, Thika and Wangige with planned expansion into Kisumu and Mombasa. ALSO READ: OPPO A71 officially retailing on open market countrywide The wi-fi hotspots are set up in areas with high pedestrian traffic including bus stops, markets, and around entertainment centres. Anyone with a wi-fi capable device can access Express Wi-Fi whenever there is a hotspot and purchase additional data from contracted agents. Express Wi-Fi also provides users access to Facebook Flex and FreeBasics, a collection of websites including content on news, employment, health, education and local information, for free while on the network. FreeBasics has, however, been met with criticism with regulators in several countries such as India stating that the concept of providing curated websites for free was against the policy of net neutrality. Former ICT Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo and an expert on technology policy has also voiced similar concerns. Dr Ndemo recently cautioned that Kenya risks losing out on lucrative opportunities in developing local content if broadband investment is left solely to foreign investors. “There is a risk in getting total foreign investment in infrastructure because at some point they may give priority to what they want to do yet we are at the stage where we need to develop local content that speaks to us,” explained Ndemo. “People just don’t go online because they want to go online, there must be local content and we need to tell our stories,” he said. “We need to pay through something like private public partnerships but let it be done with the local investors and foreign investors should do it in conjunction with local players.” Another firm angling for a piece of the internet Mawingu Networks, which is funded by the US tech giant Microsoft and US Agency for International Development (USAID). ALSO READ: Safaricom escapes CA fine over glitch The startup uses the white space spectrum, which can penetrate areas other networks can’t. This is particularly useful in urban areas where it can travel through buildings much better than the microwave spectrum. TV White Space spectrum became available after Kenya ditched analogue TV transmission in favour of digital transmission technology, freeing UHF frequencies for reallocation. The startup received an initial grant in 2013, provided through Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative and USAID. Two years after the first phase of support, Mawingu received equity funding from Microsoft, angel investor Jim Forster, and Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. In September 2016, the company received a $4.1 million (Sh410 million) loan from the US government’s development finance institution, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Currently, Safaricom commands 67 per cent of the country’s Internet market with the number of the firm’s 30-day active users rising from 13 million to 15 million. However, with only 39,255 and 86,139 subscribers connected to fixed broadband and fixed mobile broadband respectively, there are opportunities for service providers to deliver high speed Wi Fi connectivity to consumers’ homes and businesses. “There is the issue of connectivity where we have so many undersea cables but below that there is a big issue around infrastructure expansion,” explained Ms Uche. Uche, however, states that the cost of Internet-enabled devices could be another hindrance to large-scale wi-fi or fibre deployment in under-served areas. “We launched in some markets and found that even though the service was free people were still not coming online because they did not have the devices so affordability is also an issue.”
Read more at: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001258703/multi-national-tech-giants-scramble-for-kenya-s-data-billions