The Rise of the Silicon Savanna: Govt to build 1,160 Hubs across Kenya

[Kafrican]

If you thought the government was putting all its 'ICT-eggs' in one basket in the name of Konza City, think again, he kumbe watu walikua serious! waki design vision2030 where IT/ICT will be at the center of every section of our economy...

Anyway, I hate internet via satellite (atleast I used to) back in early 2000s where Kenya didnt have fibre, speeds were so slow in the range of Kbps provided by dial-up modems and satelite... but apparently thata was the c-band transmission technology, nowadays there are ka-band like the one avanti uses that has speeds of upto 130Mbps


Avanti Communications Wins Major Deal With Kenyan Government
Mon, 20th Feb 2017 08:45


LONDON (Alliance News) - Avanti Communications Group PLC on Monday said it has won a "multi-million US dollar contract" with Telkom Kenya Ltd, under which it will provide connectivity for the Kenyan government's constituency incubation hubs.

The satellite data communications provider said the contract has been awarded by the Ministry of ICT of Kenya and will result in the company installing 1,160 constituency incubation hubs across the country using capacity on its HYLAS 2 Ka-band satellite.

"The multi-million USD contract will provide an incubation hub facility for young adults and entrepreneurs to develop their ICT skills and applications, bringing them into the digital world and enabling them to grow and start new businesses. There are a total of 290 constituencies as part of the project in Kenya, with 4 constituency incubation hubs being installed per constituency," said Avanti.

"Each hub will have a VSAT system, Wi-Fi router and 40 tablet devices, provided by BRCK Kenya, which users will be able to use to connect online and discover new business opportunities," Avanti said.

Avanti shares were trading 4.2% higher on Monday at 20.83 pence per share

Avanti Communications Wins Major Deal With Kenyan Government


The internet across all the over 1,100 hubs will be distributed using our very own Brck Wi-Fi routers, the company that designed brick also does local assembly and content proviiding of tablets for the e-limu project



Avanti Communications wins new government contract with Telkom Kenya
Mon, 20 February 2017
Article viewed 18 times

(ShareCast News) - AIM-listed provider of satellite data communications Avanti Communications has announced a new contract with Telkom Kenya (TKL) to provide connectivity for the Kenyan government initiative Constituency Incubation Hubs.
The project, awarded by the Ministry of ICT of Kenya, will see TKL install 1160 CIHs across the country using capacity on Avanti's HYLAS 2 Ka-band satellite.

The multi-million US dollar contract will provide an incubation hub facility for young adults and entrepreneurs to develop their ICT skills and applications, bringing them into the digital world and enabling them to grow and start new businesses.

There are a total of 290 constituencies as part of the project in Kenya, with four CIHs being installed per constituency. Each hub will have a VSAT system, Wi-Fi router and 40 tablet devices, provided by BRCK Kenya, which users will be able to use to connect online and discover new business opportunities.

Avanti chief executive David Williams said: "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Telkom Kenya. The project is a great example of how our technology is positively impacting ICT development across Africa. Avanti's proven Ka-band technology continues to consistently deliver high-speed high quality connectivity to meet the needs of the most demanding operators and governments."

At 0842 GMT, the shares were up 4.2% to 20.84p.

 

[Ian Cruz]

Mnnnn,every day Kenya stands tall in a community of nations.
Go go go,beyond borders...

 

[Kafrican]

The word they have used in incubation hub, am guessing this is a general term meaning services provided to start-up companies, innovative ideas, business plans won't be just for IT but for any kingd of bussiness that leverages on ICT including tech startups themselves, these will be places that offer high speed (relative) internet and an environment for youths to meet,reseach,work,develop there ideas

Anyway govt already had plans to build a tech hub in every county connected to high speed fiber optic cables
http://www.humanipo.com/news/37610/kenya-to-develop-ict-incubation-hubs-for-startups-in-each-county/

There are 47 Counties in Kenya, size inluenced by historical boundaries but revised due to population density... Mombasa and Nairobi being one of the smallest geographically

of the 47 counties represented by a governor and a senetor, Each County has a number of constituencies represented by a member of parliament..... totaling 290 constituencies

For example Nairobi has like 11 constituencies due to its high density

The govenment will be building 4 hubs in each of the 290 constituencies

 

[Kafrican]

Currently tech incubation Hubs in Africa are led by South Africa

One of the key features of the African digital renaissance is that it is increasingly home grown. In other sectors of the African economy, such as mining or agribusiness, much of the know-how is imported and the wealth extracted. But Africa’s 700 million or so mobile subscribers use services that are provided locally, and they are also downloading more applications that are developed locally.

One of the main sources of locally developed applications is the technology hubs that are springing up across Africa. In a recent project carried out for the Botswana Innovation Hub, we worked with two of the longer established labs, the research arm of *iHub_in Kenya and BongoHive in Zambia, to create a map of tech hubs. To our surprise, there are now around 90 tech hubs across the continent, and more than half of Africa economies have at least one. South Africa was the first to make it into double figures but other countries are not far behind. Indeed, hubs such as MEST in Ghana, the Co-creation hub in Nigeria or *iHub_ in Kenya are widely regarded as models, and the latter was recently named by Fast Company magazine as one of the most innovative companies. It has impressed the Kenyan government enough for it to commit to establishing a tech hub in each of its 47 counties.

As might be expected, tech hubs vary a lot in their scale, objectives and business models. Some, like Smart Xchange in South Africa, aspire to be fully-fledged ICT business incubators, offering office space for start-ups to grow. Most, like Hive CoLab in Uganda, might be better described as pre-incubators, or co-working spaces, where entrepreneurs come together to shape and refine business ideas. Some, like Rlabs or Jokkolabs, seek to grow through a franchise model, while others look to external seed funding from commercial partners, such as the Nokia Greenhouse Nairobi or from non-for-profits, such as infoDev’s mobile applications labs (mLabs) in Nairobi and Pretoria. Other tech hubs begin life in universities, like the iLab at Strathmore, one of Kenya’s premier private universities. Increasingly, governments are seeking to get directly involved in funding tech hubs, attracted in part by the jobs that can be created, particularly for young people, or the chance to create a new MPesa, Kenya’s mobile money service. Botswana Innovation Hub is an example of a government-driven initiative, now transitioning to a more sustainable model, with assistance from the World Bank under a reimbursable advisory services contract aimed at promoting economic diversity and competitiveness in Botswana’s economy.

The list of hubs is growing on an almost weekly basis, and BongoHive maintains a current list based on a crowdsourcing model. But tech hubs also disappear, particularly those that are based on informal gatherings of developers, or hackerspaces. A high failure rate is an inevitable consequence of innovation, and the testing of ideas. A recent World Bank Group report, on the business models of tech hubs, provides some lessons on how to improve sustainability. *iHub_, in Kenya, lists more than 150 companies that can trace their origins to ideas incubated there, among its 13’000+ members. In the longer term, it is the companies that tech hubs give birth to that will be the lasting legacy. So which will be the legacy-makers among today’s generation of African Tech Hubs? Send us your thoughts and join the conversation

 

[Kafrican]

More info about Avanti
Avanti

Avanti

Even Tanzania contracted the company to provide upto 24Mbps to govt depertments and NGOs

Avanti
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Avanti Communications Group plc, a leading provider of satellite data communications services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Bentley Walker, the largest supplier and operator of VSAT Networks outside of North America jointly announce a new contract to provide superfast satellite broadband in Tanzania. Avanti and Bentley Walker will extend their longstanding, extensive partnership to provide consumers, NGOs, Government departments and businesses of all sizes with Internet connectivity of up to 24Mbps across the country.

 

[LightYagami]

Hizi ahadi za Jubilee siziamini mimi

 

[Kafrican]

Hizi ahadi za Jubilee siziamini mimi

Hio iko kwa vision2030 blueprint where small town and villages are supposed to have speeds of up to 5Mbps and there are to be ict hubs in every center of local government....

Anyway, the Avanti company has already won the contract meaning the project is passed the tendering stage , next step is implementation

 

[LightYagami]

Hio iko kwa vision2030 blueprint where small town and villages are supposed to have speeds of up to 5Mbps and there are to be ict hubs in every center of local government....

Anyway, the Avanti company has already won the contract meaning the project is passed the tendering stage , next step is implementation

5mbps wifi??