Orange Kenya to launch 42 Mbps modem

Orange is set to announce the new modem today and market players and stakeholders will wait to see how they will price this new gadget.

This comes soon after Bharti Airtel announced its new 3G internet coverage, making it the latest company to jump on the broadband wagon.

Orange has been on the cutting edge in introducing new and innovative products engaged in delivering high quality internet.

The development comes as the country still suffers from high internet access prices. Safaricom unveiled its own 42Mbps modem in mid April this year.

Most of the local telecom companies have shied away from the ever-falling profit margins from voice calls and are now aggressively embracing the data market.

High-speed broadband in Kenya has put the country second in Africa, after Ghana. This has also had a good impact on the economy especially in innovation and development.

According to the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) as at 31st March 2012, there were 6.49 million Internet subscriptions up from 6.15 million recorded the previous period.

This represents an increase of 5.5 per cent during the quarter under review and 69.0 per cent when compared to the same period of the previous year. The mobile data/Internet subscriptions on GPRS/EDGE and 3G continued to dominate the Internet market, representing a ratio of 98.8 per cent of the total Internet subscriptions.

There were 6.41 million mobile data/Internet subscriptions recorded during the quarter up from 6.07 million subscriptions in the previous quarter. Compared to the same period of the previous year, this represents an increase of 69.3 per cent.

The continued increase in mobile data/Internet subscriptions could be as a result of stiff competition from the operators offering attractive promotional and special offers and competitive tariffs consequently leading to increased uptake of mobile data services and products