Kenya Data Networks (KDN) are close to turning a profit after what the managing director described to HumanIPO as an “amazing five months” since the takeover by Liquid Telecom and a period of financial restructuring.
Liquid Telecom took an 80 per cent stake in KDN in January when it took over Altech Group’s East Africa operations, and has already moved quickly by beginning to connect its various companies’ fibre networks in the region.
Speaking to HumanIPO today, Shahab Meshki, managing director of KDN, said the company had made real progress since the takeover and was benefitting from the inter-company relationships Liquid Telecom has brought.
Meshki said: “It has been amazing in the last five months, primarily in regards to the financial structuring of the business. We are almost in a profitable business situation, although we still have a long way to go to meeting shareholders’ expectations.”
Among the early projects include the first fibre-optic connection between Tanzania and Kenya, and Meshki said the focus will shift from “local connectivity to regional connectivity”.
“These opportunities are providing a pan-African solution,” he added.
Concerning issues closer to home, Meshki said one of the challenges facing internet service providers (ISPs) in Kenya was the need to reach out to the 60 to 70 per cent of the country which does not have broadband access.
He said the government needed to find ways to encourage ISPs to roll out services in these rural areas because otherwise it was economically viable for companies to go there.
Meshki said: “The rural areas are still under covered. That is definitely still a challenge for all the players.
“At the end of the day it comes down to having a critical mass which ultimately justifies a period of time and money to roll out the infrastructure.”
