Kenya’s government has announced that it will start rolling out its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) infrastructure before the end of this year.
Kenya’s Information Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo said that the technology will provide fast speeds and higher bandwidth in a bid to boost the online business in the East African country.
“Rolling out LTE should start in a few months and will cost an estimated Sh42 billion (USD 494) with some parts of the country expected to start reaping 4G benefits by the end of 2012,” Dr. Ndemo said.
He further stated that the government will be targeting the rural areas that until now have been marginalized technologically.
Dr. Ndemo commented that nine firms involved in the infrastructure construction include the Kenya’s main mobile phone operators (Safaricom, Airtel, Yu and Orange), hardware manufacturers Nokia, Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, Kenya Data Networks (KDN), South African mobile operator MTN and a US telecom firm.
If launched this year, Kenya will be among the few African countries to roll out the 4G LTE technology in its network.
This is expected to boost technology services, as the 4G LTE networks will give Kenyans quick download speeds five times faster than 3G. It will in addition support video streaming, live conference and advanced data uptake.
