Telkom pumps Sh 1 billion in network expansion, to introduce balloon network towers

Mobile service provider Telkom has set aside Sh1 billion to expand and optimize its 4G and 3G network across the country.

This even as plans to buyout the telco by India's Bharti Airtel are ongoing, at least according to sources close to the two firms.

Telkom plans to use part of the investment to further expand Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTB) Network, a market currently led by Safaricom.

The investment focus will include investments into access, core, transmission and IT components; infrastructure that is crucial to further improve network reliability and accessibility to customers.

“It remains our objective to entrench our position as Kenya’s preferred Data network, which can only be achieved through the evolution of our network to become a stronger and future fit Telco.” Telkom CEO Mugo Kibati said

The network expansion agenda includes a pilot with Loon LLC, a sister company to Google and a subsidiary of Alphabet, to launch an innovative 4G/LTE access network service in Kenya.

According to the telco, the expansion will be done through the use of high altitude balloons acting as floating cell towers, giving network coverage to un-served and under-served areas, around the Mount Kenya region, including.

Thika, Nakuru, Nyeri, and Nanyuki are some of the targeted regions.

It is expected that the project will commence within the first half of the year, 2019.

Data from the Communications Authority for the quarter ending September 30, 2018, shows the country’s mobile subscriptions currently stand at 46.6 million – a growth of 2.4 per cent, when compared to 45.5 million subscriptions recorded as at June 30, 2018, earning the country a 100.1 mobile penetration rate.