Kenya is barely using half of total available Internet bandwidth capacity in the country. According to the latest industry report from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), Kenya has a total available bandwidth capacity of 17,293.743 Gbps. Of this, only 8,041.632 Gbps is utilized in the country. This accounts for just 46.50% of the total available bandwidth.
In total, 10.995.452 Gbps is actual utilized. However, Kenya sells 2,953.820 Gbps to other countries in the region. All said and done, there is about 36.42% of internet bandwidth that is unutilized by the region.
What is actually telling is that the total available Internet bandwidth capacity in Kenya dropped in the last quarter of 2023. This slight drop of 59.979 Gbps is attributed to a reduction in LION2 Lit capacity.
The drop in capacity should not worry Kenyans. In the third quarter of 2023, the total Internet bandwidth capacity in the country grew by 5.0 percent. Capacity rose to 17,353.722 Gbps from 16,523.303 Gbps.
The Internet has become a utility for many East Africans that we cannot live without. Based on the numbers, it appears the region is not yet able to fully utilize the internet bandwidth it has. While this is telling, it is worth noting that utilisation is growing.
In the third quarter of 2023, utilisation of undersea bandwidth rose by 13.3% to record 10,964.87 Gbps. For the final quarter ending in December, the CA reports a slight growth of 0.3% in utilisation.
Room for Digital Expansion
Today, Kenya has a total of six submarine cables connecting it and East Africa to the world. Of the six, the TEAMS, EASSy, LION2 and PEACE landing stations are hosted and managed by Telkom. Telkom is also part of the DARE1 consortium. The country is also served by SEACOM.
Given the recent undersea cable cuts that have affected the region, having 6 submarine cable serve the country puts Kenya in a good position. The untapped capacity means Kenya is ripe for more digital expansion.
Kenya is one of Africa’s primary data center hubs and is considered the gateway to the East African region. The country currently has about 11 data centres. In February, Oracle announced plans to establish Kenya as a site for its data center.
The surge in internet bandwidth greatly helps significantly decrease costs in the regional digital economy.
