Kenya’s third largest mobile operator Telkom has erected three stations in Kwale that will see resident enjoy better cellular connection on their devices. The stations were put up alongside Safaricom’s that installed the same amount of the facilities in Kilifi.
Both projects are said to have cost KES 1.24 billion and were put into effect in collaboration with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). It is likely the development is funded by the Universal Service Fund (USF), a kitty that is financed by telecom operators that remit 0.5 percent of their annual profits to the CA.
The project is in line with one of UFS’s goals that aim to deploy services in marginalized regions in the country.
The six base stations will benefit coastal Kenya’s residents in the excess of 300,000. In the past, the two areas have experienced poor network coverage that included dropped calls and slow access to internet services.
The installation of the stations appears to have, according to some users, solved the issue for the most part.
Both carriers have excellent services for their customers: Safaricom’s coverage is the most reliable in the country, although its services and products may be priced higher than what the competition offers. On the other hand, Telkom’s voice and data services are cheaper, although users, most of them young people, continue to push the carrier to increase LTE coverage.
Telkom is on a journey to make a name for itself; in 2017, it rebranded its services from Orange to Telkom after being acquired by Helios, launched a series of products thereafter including a financial service dubbed T-Kash, swapped its CEO and may probably join forces with Airtel Kenya for a merger that should, at least in theory, favourably compete with Safaricom in coming days.