The European Investment Bank has signed a loan agreement worth $40 million with Telkom.
In view of the growing demand for telecommunication services, Telkom will invest heavily in its 3G and 4G coverage throughout Kenya.
Telkom, in addition to improving mobile connectivity, will also invest in its Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) network, which is set to improve the quality of service offered to enterprise and corporate customers.
The focus will include investments into access, core, transmission and IT (Information Technology) components; infrastructure that is crucial to further improve network reliability and accessibility.
According to the Telco industry regulator in Kenya, the Communications Authority, high-speed fibre subscriptions doubled during the financial year 2017/2018 to stand at 135,964 from 54,700, posted the previous year.
EIB Vice President Mr. Ambroise Fayolle, comments: “In terms of how mobile services are used, we could say that Kenya is ahead of Europe, and both the market and possibilities are growing fast. One attention point is the coverage, which is why we are happy to support Telkom’s growth strategy in expanding its 3G and 4G networks across the country. This loan will also benefit its fixed broadband network; a service which is widely seen as a basic need for businesses to be competitive in a global market.”
Telkom CEO, Mr. Mugo Kibati, adds: “Telkom’s focus is to be Kenya’s preferred Data network, which will be done by evolving into a stronger and future-fit Telco. The strategic support from the EIB will give impetus to Telkom’s data network expansion, that has seen Telkom consistently enhance indoor coverage, expand our 4G network, optimize our 3G network, thereby boosting our capacity to handle mobile data traffic, in response to growing customer demand.”
Telkom’s network expansion focus has also seen it partner with Loon LLC, a sister company to Google and a subsidiary of Alphabet, to pilot an innovative 4G/LTE access network service in Kenya, using high altitude balloons, that will act as floating cell towers.
Mr. Mugo adds: “All these initiatives are geared towards expanding Telkom’s data network and footprint, to connect the under-served and un-served, in line with our growth strategy. Moreover, this will allow us to bring better quality Data services to more Kenyans.”
Kenya’s Telco industry regulator, the Communications Authority states that about 99 per cent of Internet subscribers access the Internet via mobile phones and other mobile devices. The Data/Internet market expected to continue exhibiting similar trends into 2019.
