Airtel invests Kshs 2.5 billion in 3G network

Airtel Kenya’s Managing Director, Mr. Adil El Youssefi - Upgrade of all sites in Mombasa and Kitale townships completed, with Nairobi’s in progress

Bharti Airtel has announced that it has invested Ksh. 2.5 billion to upgrade its network to enhance indoor coverage and 3G quality in Kenya.  

The upgrade of all sites in Mombasa and Kitale townships has been completed, with Nairobi’s already in progress.   

With the growing demand for data services, alongside the increasing proliferation of smartphones, the UMTS 900 Mhz spectrum upgrade project significantly enhances indoor coverage penetration and improves data quality for Airtel 3G network users.

Upgrade of all the sites in Mombasa and Kitale townships have been completed, with Nairobi’s in progress and due to be completed soon. Nokia Networks, one of the world’s leading specialists in mobile broadband is partnering with Airtel for this upgrade project.

“We have invested 2.5 billion shillings in this exercise and plan to continue investing significantly in the network to provide our customers with the best possible user experience across the country. The project will increase the reach and coverage of Airtel’s 3G network, enabling our customers take full advantage of what Airtel has to offer.” said Airtel Kenya’s Managing Director, Mr. Adil El Youssefi. 

Mr. Youssefi added “With the network upgrade, customers will be better able to take advantage of services such as the recently launched Airtel #UnlimiNet, free twitter on Airtel Internet, Internet.org- free internet powered by Airtel and Facebook, amongst a bouquet of other data services.”       

The network upgrade also makes Airtel Kenya’s network 4G LTE ready. In November last year, Airtel Africa launched 4G in Seychelles and Rwanda, making the two countries amongst the first in sub Saharan Africa to commercially deploy the 4G network technology.  In India, Bharti Airtel was the first operator to launch the 4G service, making it one of the first countries in the world to commercially deploy this cutting-edge technology.    

Airtel currently has the widest 3G footprint in Africa, with the 17 countries that Airtel operates in, connected to 3G services.

Orange expands its 3G network

Orange Telkom Kenya has added 14 more urban centres to its 3G network. 

The additions include Isiolo, Othaya, Keruguya, Kenol, Mwingi, Loitokitok, Namanga, Mai Mahiu, Gilgil, Bomet, Eldama Ravine, Siaya, Webuye and Kilgoris.

This comes at a time when the company is moving to consolidate its data services business in the new financial year, with mobile Internet being viewed as the next growth area in the country’s telecommunication industry.

The company is already recording impressive results from its data business, with the unit growing by 50pc in the last quarter of 2014. This performance has been propelled by the provision of the Orange high-speed broadband to 35 county governments and through the improvement of the company’s network across the country.

The industry regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya recently singled out Orange as having the best 3G network in terms of quality of service.

Company CEO Vincent Lobry says the endorsement has motivation them to maintain the same standard and expand the same quality to new areas in the country.

“Part of our KES 2.5bn investment last year was dedicated to the rolling out of 3G network across the country, and the transformation of our operations to enhance service delivery,” said Mr. Lobry.

He said that the business is strengthening its national broadband reach with the laying of transport cables across the country. 

By the end of March 2015, an additional 27 urban areas will be linked onto the Orange 3G network bringing the number of new 3G locations to 41.