SPOTS IN KENYA WHERE GOVT HAVE PLACED FREE WIFI

Kenya’s plan to set up 25,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots has received a boost after the World Bank Group agreed to offer Sh52 billion ($390 million) for the project in an effort to cut internet costs by 60 percent.

The disbursement is expected to finance the first phase of the project known as the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project, which seeks to expand access to high-speed internet, improve the quality of education and digitise government services.

The 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots will be set up across the country to provide internet services to innovators, youth and entrepreneurs.

Cheap and fast internet can bridge the digital divide, offering more access to jobs, trade, education, and social inclusion.

But few companies lay fibre connections in poor neighbourhoods. Most people in the country connect through their phones using 3G or 4G data bundles, whose prices thwart access to the internet for the poor.

The average cost of a megabyte stood at Sh4.59 in December, and the entry of the State could trigger a fall in internet prices offered by firms such as Safaricom and Zuku.

Managers of the State project reckon the free Wi-Fi hotspots will slash prices by up to 60 percent and boost access to high-speed internet or availability to 100 percent.

“Broadening access to digital technologies and services is a cross-cutting pathway to accelerate economic growth and job creation, improve service delivery and build resilience,” said Keith Hansen, World Bank Country Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda.

Kenya has sought to promote itself as a tech hub for Africa, attracting giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google

They are using Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria as their launch pads for a bigger stake in Africa’s market by taking advantage of growing economies with rising access rates to the Internet by a youthful population.

The World Bank-backed project is expected to mobilise a further Sh13.3 billion ($100 million) from the private sector for the broadband infrastructure development project.

Other milestones infused in the project are the rehabilitation of 2500 kilometres of damaged/old fibre network, the establishment of village digital hubs and studios in all of Kenya’s 1,450 wards and the establishment of a regional integration connectivity network.

The project also includes the local manufacture of cheap smart devices to increase access to the Internet via phones.

Official data show that 33.6 million or 52 percent of the 63.3 million cellphone devices are feature phones, making it difficult for half of the subscribers to access the Internet using phones.

Safaricom in 2020 launched a programme in partnership with Google that allows its customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in instalments, as it seeks to increase smartphone usage on its network.

The customers pay as little as Sh20 a day over a nine-month period, with the ultimate aim of switching about four million 2G and 3G phones to 4G.

The free Wi-Fi hotspots will be installed in business centres, rural areas and other public spaces, according to the Kenya National Digital Masterplan 2022-2032.

The government has already piloted the project having installed Wi-Fi hotspots in the popular City Market and Wakulima Market in Nairobi’s central business district at the back-end of last year.

“We are taking the Internet to the people. From here, we will be launching similar programmes in other trade centres so that we can facilitate e-commerce,” ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo said in November.

The project is expected to cement Kenya’s digital transformation plan as the Internet becomes more integral to the economy and more so in commerce.

A survey by the Communications Authority of Kenya showed that 3G broadband subscriptions for the year ending June 2022 hit 11.7 million with 73.1 million gigabytes of data volume consumed while 4G subscriptions stood at 17.6 million with 208.1 gigabytes of data volume consumed.

Mr Owalo in February disclosed talks with the World Bank to partially fund the rollout of the proposed 100,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable.

By Business Daily