The Kenya government is looking to partner with Kenya Power, Kenya Pipeline and Kenya Railway in an effort to expand and double Kenya’s Broadband outlay in the next 2 years. This was mentioned by Information Communications and Technology Dr. Fred Matiang’i during the Kenya Broadband Forum, an event seeking to bring together stakeholders from the telecommunication, networking and mobile industries to discuss challenges facing broadband networks in Kenya and how they can be improved for better connection speeds.
The CS further outlined key enablers towards increasing the uptake of broadband in Kenya. Key among these include realigning Kenya’s National Broadband Strategy with the ITU’s goal of achieving universal broadband connectivity by 2020. Development of broadband policies at the county levels will also play a key role in enabling uptake and coverage of broadband locally. The CS challenged county governments to create enabling environments for ICT investment in their counties.
“County governments should ensure the levies charged to investors for services such as site acquisition reduce”, he said. Dr. Matiang’i further said Kenya is borrowing strategies from nations with a wide broadband footprint and seeking to replicate those strategies locally. “We have seen the numbers from CA on internet and mobile penetration locally. Once we implement these plans expect the number to grow with the costs going down”, he added.
The event was organized by Huawei Technologies in collaboration with Kenya ICT Authority.
