Adoption of 4G LTE network in Kenya is long overdue and the government is at last taking it seriously. According to Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet secretary for Information, Communication and Technology, the the Government plans to release a new Spectrum policy that will outline its 4G adoption. He also added that, “The Spectrum is a national resource and government can only develop policy for management various sectors of society should share their views on how the government should be manage the spectrum.”
Currently, Kenya has both 2G and 3G networks that present a number of challenges to both the end user and service providers. The 2G network is prone to interference while the 3G network is not scalable even though it is very efficient.
Mr. Matiang’i also added that, “We have proposed to go by the public-private partnerships-ownership model so as to avail the broadband in wholesale basis but there are actors who think we should auction licenses after grouping the spectrum into two or three bands.”
Adopting 4G connectivity will be beneficial to ecommerce companies, service providers and the end users since 4G is more stable and faster that 3G connectivity. At the moment, Africa is the only continent lagging behind when it comes to 4G connectivity with fewer than 10 countries enjoying the “fast lane” that is 4G connectivity.
Among the companies that have expressed interest in venturing into 4G platform include Safaricom, Airtel, Orange, yU, Liquid Telecoms, and MTN Business.
Source{ CapitalFM}
