Players in the telecommunications industry have started discussions on the roll-out of advanced mobile networks despite underutilisation of existing technologies.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the ICT Ministry, it has emerged, are steering discussions on the roll-out of fifth generation (5G) networks.
Further growth
Broadcasting and Telecommunications Principal Secretary Sammy Itemere said the roll-out of the advanced 5G network would contribute to further growth of the ICT sector.
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He cautioned that failing to keep pace with such advancements could see Kenya and Africa lag behind the rest of the world. “Nurturing an emerging technology like 5G is the very bedrock of faster and reliable communications, innovation and vibrant economies,” he told delegates at a recent spectrum conference in Nairobi. The new technology will succeed 4G, which mobile network operators have just started rolling out in a move that is expected to further deepen the use of ICT among Kenyans in their day-to-day lives as well as business.
Plans for the advanced networks come against the backdrop of networks that remain largely unused such as the 3G as well as 4G, with the latter having coverage only in a few towns.
