Airtel shifts focus to data, expands network in Nairobi

Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi.

After a tough time trying to win consumers on their voice calls, Airtel Kenya is now refocusing its investment on data.

Airtel Kenya has set up a number of activities aimed at enhancing its network. Currently, the company is expanding its network in Nairobi having finished upgrading its network in Mombasa.

The company is also keen on launching Fourth Generation network through which they hope they will disrupt the data market in the country. The company says that talks with the regulator to this end are at an advanced stage.

“We understand that new needs are evolving, consumers are evolving, cities are expanding, businesses are expanding, and the demands for Internet are also increasing,” said Airtel Kenya Chief Executive Adil El Youssefi at a breakfast meeting with Airtel’s business partners last week.

The expansion is in terms of capacity and data space. The upgrade in Mombasa, he said, is finished. He also said that he was aware of their customers’ need for Fourth-Generation network and assured them that they were committed to acquiring the much needed spectrum in order to roll out 4G.

“Spectra are rare frequencies which cannot be expanded. So we are working with the regulator to ensure that we also get access to these frequencies that will allow us to get 4G,” El Youssefi added.

He said there is very good indication from the regulator that this is going to happen in the next few months, and we have investment lined up so that we can launch 4G.

But even with the 3.75 G network that the player currently uses, the Chief Executive reckoned that with it they can still be able to answer 99 per cent of their customer’s needs.

Airtel Africa Executive Operations Director, Christophe Soulet, said that this this expansion was not local but also regional, spanning the 17 countries in Africa where Airtel is represented.

“We committed $1 billion dollar investment in Africa, $300 million on network and 500 on 3G only and fiber connectivity,” he said.

“We want to be the smart-phone network - the smart-phone that covers basically the mass market and the enterprise market. We do know that by five years from now, over 60 per cent of customers will have smart-phone and hence the way that we will consume it will be essentially data. So this is why that we will invest heavily into our data network,” added Mr Soulet.