MTN has backed the consortium model decided upon by the Kenyan government for the rollout of LTE infrastructure, calling it the most ideal scenario.
MTN Business Kenya managing director Tom Omariba told the East Africa Com conference in Nairobi, Kenya, the nine member consortium will lead to the provision of enhanced and more efficient ICT services in the country.
This means that unlike with the 2G and 3G rollouts, when there was a duplication of infrastructure, companies would have to share the infrastructure.
“We started from 2G, then moved to 3G and are now set to deploy the 4G or LTE network,” he said.
The nine member team comprises Safaricom, Telkom Kenya – Orange, Airtel, Essar Telecom’s yuMobile, KDN, MTN, Alcatel-Lucent and Epesi Communications, and is set to implement the first phase of the project, which will cost KSh4.8 billion (US$56.8 million).
Omariba favours the consortium, saying it will bring down the initial capital expenditure (CAPEX) for the telecoms, leading to lower costs for maintenance and meaning base transceiver stations can cover comparatively longer distances.
Under the agreement mobile network operators in the consortium will provide their masts and base stations under a shared infrastructure model.
The consortium has not been without its problems, however, with Safaricom threatening to go it alone on an LTE network and Ericsson offering to build the infrastructure for free across the country and recover the costs after 15 years period.
“The private sector is selfish that’s why we’ve delayed the rollout of the LTE/4G network in the country. There’s been not much progress made by the consortium since they were set up apart from lots of stakeholder meetings and discussions with various teams including legal, financial and taxation,” said Omariba, adding the consortium was meant to work in the same way as the TEAMS cable model.
Due to the squabbles Kenya has fallen behind neighbours Tanzania and Rwanda, who have already deployed 4G.
