Safaricom – Africa Tech Digest

Safaricom Announces Launch Date for Commercial 5G Network

23Sep

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

5G, Mobile, Telecommunications

Safaricom Announces Launch Date for Commercial 5G Network

Safaricom has announced that it will increase its 5G sites by 200 by the end of 2021, and launch a commercialised version of its 5G services in 2022. Kenya’s leading telco launched 5G technology for the first time in the country in March, starting with 15 sites. Now the telco says it wants to take the supremely high-speed internet to additional towns. Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO said Wednesday that the company would use up to 200 sites for testing the upgraded network as it seeks to capitalise on the country’s nascent Internet use which is slowly growing. Safaricom’s 5G service is also hoped to be a central key of its attempts to further expand its data business in order to counter the slow growth in voice calls revenue. Continue reading Image: TechWeez

Safaricom to Bank $481-Million from Kenya Power Meter Deal

Kenya’s top telecom is set to make $481-million (Ksh53.5-billion) for installing smart electricity meters to Kenya Power’s largest consumers in a new deal meant to curb power theft, and electricity leakages while also fixing significant weaknesses on the utility firm’s transmission network, reports Business Daily. Safaricom is planning on spending $281-million to install an intelligent system that will connect 333,300 electricity meters to a central location and track electricity use, power outages and load on transformers. The system will allow the reading of the meters remotely, as well. The system will help bring down the share of electricity bought from generator firms like KenGen that does not reach homes and businesses, known as system losses, from 23.93% to around 8%, which w...

The New Tech Era: job-killer or job-creator?

At a time when Jumia, Africa’s biggest e-commerce company, is preparing to raise several hundred million dollars on the New York Stock Exchange, and the Mauritius-based IHS Towers communications giant is doing the same, it seems beside the point to ask whether “Tech” is good for the continent. Like Kenya-based Safaricom and the pioneering M-Pesa mobile money service, these companies are at the vanguard of Africa’s technological revolution. They are making money for their shareholders but more importantly they – and a generation of start-ups across the continent – are putting African engineers, innovators and mathematicians on the world stage, showcasing ideas and systems that other regions are rushing to copy. Norway is trying to keep up with Kenya in the mobile-money stakes. Ye...