Kenya's Safaricom receives 3G licence for $25 mln

Kenya's Safaricom receives 3G licence for $25 mln

The Communications Commission of Kenya on Thursday granted the country's first third-generation (3G) licence to Safaricom, Kenya's biggest mobile firm, for $25 million. "By rolling out 3G, Safaricom shall now be able to extend its range of services to include high speed data communications such as mobile internet access, mobile video conferencing and videophone," said John Waweru, director general of CCK.

Safaricom has the largest number of subscribers in Kenya with nearly 8 million. It made 17.19 billion shillings ($257.7 million) in pretax profits in the year that ended in March. The operator is jointly owned by the Kenyan government and Britain's Vodafone and is scheduled for further privatisation before the year's end. The Kenyan government holds 60 percent but plans to offload 25 percent for $600 million.

Safaricom rolled out a 3.5G network last October confined to some parts of Nairobi on a trial basis. Third-generation services allow web access at broadband speeds that enable faster file downloads and email services. Safaricom has said speeds of up to 1.9 megabits per second are possible on its 3G network, but in practice they are under 200 kilobits per second.

Kenya connects to the Internet backbone via expensive satellite links, so true broadband speeds will have to await the completion of an undersea fibre optic cable due at the end of next year. Waweru said the faster speeds would facilitate modern applications like remote medical diagnosis and remote education, which will benefit rural Kenyans. "Although the 3G systems and services have so far been largely in the developed world, this systems present even greater opportunities in developing countries by helping to leapfrog and close the technology gap," Waweru said.