Improved internet access revolutionising business in Kenya

Falling internet access prices after the launch of the undersea fibre optic cable are revolutionising key business services in Kenya.

This is in turn leading to introduction of advanced services that could soon see virtual classrooms and real-time video conferencing become a reality.

A study prepared by an international research firm says the landing of four fibre-optic international submarine cables in Kenya ended the dependency on limited and expensive satellite bandwidth thereby opening new market frontiers in the internet and broadband sector.

This increased Kenya’s international internet bandwidth availability to more than fifty-fold and wholesale prices have fallen by more than 90% according to this study.

This has finally made it possible to take the internet to the mass market across the country where various business offering internet-based services are flourishing.

The study by Research and Markets was published in November 2013 and is titled Kenya - Internet and Broadband Market - Overview, Statistics and Forecasts.

Companies that started out as Internet Service Providers (ISP) offering internet services and intranet-links to banks and media groups among other businesses notably Access Kenya, Kenya Data Networks and Wananchi – have transformed themselves into second-tier telcos rolling out national and metropolitan fibre backbones and wireless broadband access networks, the study says.

Moving a notch higher to become second-tier telcos, the ISPs became intermediaries for businesses offering converged voice, data and video/entertainment services.

COSTLY INFRASTRUCTURE

However, Kenyans are yet to fully benefit from this revolution as the infrastructure investments have been costly and the market has become more competitive, which has led to takeovers in the sector.

The study meant to help equity fund managers, astute businesspeople as well as telco firms make informed decisions on investments, noted that at least six major deployments of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access technology (WiMAX) and four Fibre to the Home (FttH) rollouts are underway with the third generation (3G) mobile broadband services having been launched.

Also joining the fray is the introduction of advanced services such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) as well as triple-play services where a digital satellite television provider is also offering internet and voice services to clients.

CASHLESS SYSTEM

Universities have also embraced technology starting e-learning courses while various businesses are slowly taking to e-commerce, the next frontier in a cashless system that is more secure and safer as well as fast.

The government is also moving towards paperless based system of storing its data and transacting business online making, it easy for Kenyans to access key documents and information that would have otherwise been hard to get and expensive.

Policies advocating e-commerce, e-learning and e-government are now rapidly evolving setting the stage for a no-look-back take-off with various companies engaged in digging of trenches to lay fibre optic networks in rollout plans worth millions of shillings.

The Kenya Power company has also announced plans to lease its poles to second tier companies for installation of fibre optic cables at a fee.