Safaricom targets small businesses in rollout of Sh3.4 billion digital city project

By MACHARIA  KAMAU

NAIROBI, KENYA: Telecommunications firm Safaricom is angling to sell its data services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a new project it calls the Safaricom Digital City.

The digital city is a Sh3.4 billion ($40 million) project that will hook up commercial buildings to Safaricom’s recently built fibre optic network with the aim of capturing SMEs operating from these premises.

 Last week the firm started reaching out to developers in Nairobi’s Westlands area, offering to connect their commercial buildings to its fibre network for free.

Businesses operating from these buildings will, however, pay for the use of connectivity services offered by the telco.

The firm has so far laid 600 kilometres of cable in Nairobi and its environs.  In January next year, it plans to start laying cable for similar networks in four other major towns across the country including Kisumu and Mombasa. It has in the past said it planned to spend Sh10 billion in the cable infrastructure works.

According to Safaricom’s Director of Corporate Affairs Mr Nzioka Waita the digital city project is a $40million project the firm has put in place to roll out high quality fibre in five major cities and towns in Kenya. 

Nairobi metropolitan

“Safaricom Digital City Project covers commercial and industrial areas in the entire Nairobi Metropolitan area. When completed, the project will enable us to offer our enterprise customers with high quality high speed Internet and a reliable service at an affordable rate,” he said.

He said the digital city would be a key driver of one of Safaricom’s core business goals of growing the enterprise segment by leveraging its investments in connectivity and data storage  with a particular focus on the SME segment.

Other than Nairobi, the firm said it plans to have similar projects in other major towns across the country.  It will in January next year start putting up fibre optic networks in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret where it plans to offer similar deals to property developers.

Rolling out

“We will be targeting as many buildings as possible. We will start off in Nairobi before rolling out to the other towns as we expand the reach of our metro-fibre,” said Waita.

“The enterprise segment is still nascent… through this fibre, we will be able to offer our enterprise customers high quality solution that will guarantee them faster speeds and a more reliable service at a cost effective price,” he added.

Safaricom had set aside Sh10 billion for the fibre project that started last year in Nairobi. Already it has 600 kilometres of cable in Nairobi and plans to increase this by 300km and a further 500km in the other four towns. The project kicked off last year and it is projected to end by the beginning of our next financial year.

“So far, we have completed the first phase during which we laid over 600 kilometres of fibre in Nairobi and its environs – Rongai, Kitengela, Ngong, Kiambu, Ruiru and Athi River,” said Waita.