By Macharia Kamau

Rural-urban digital divide will continue to widen even with the undersea fibre optic connection next year.

According to Kenya Data Networks the rural-urban digital divide will further widen when the country is finally wired to the undersea fibre optic in September.

KDN expressed concerns that a vast majority of Kenyans are technology illiterate while many rural areas do not have access ICT resources.

"The digital divide in the country is set to explode with the coming of the fibre optic cable with the areas that already have ICT resources benefiting from cheap and fast connectivity," said Mr Vincent Wangombe Marketing Manager KDN.

He added that many would miss out on the opportunities that high speed connection would offer to the internet would offer, including employment and wealth creation prospects for the youth.

"Urban areas that have existing ICT resources will grow exponentially while rural and other marginalised areas will be left behind and hence further widen the gap between the rich and poor," said Wangombe.

Access

He said that KDN is working on a platform to have local content available to Kenyans for free.

"With the low cost high speed connectivity, local content will be struggling to stay afloat as our systems will be awash with foreign content and hence the need to increase Kenyan content on the internet," he said.

He added that creation of local content would increase the traffic on the cable.

In creating local content and increasing access to ICT resources, KDN in collaboration with ICT Village are putting up digital villages in every constituency that is estimated to cost over Sh200 million.

Mr Ian Kamau of ICT Village however noted to increase coverage significantly, players from the private sector have to compliment government efforts in increasing ICT coverage in Kenya. The Kenya ICT board has plans to put up 300 digital villages, known as Pasha centres.

"In as much as the government has plans to put up digital facilities, they are barely enough as they only translate to one centre per constituency and hence concerted efforts are needed to further entrench ICT in the country as it is among the few options we have for empower the youth en masse," he said.