Fibre cables increase home connections

More people are connecting to high-speed internet at home following the doubling of capacity by data service provider AccessKenya linked to Seacom and Teams undersea fibre cables.

The company has over the last one month netted 500 new customers, surpassing its annual target of 2, 800 and which it attributes to the increased speeds.

“We are delighted to report excellent traction in the growth of customer numbers, spurred on by the increased speeds and value for money we have been offering our corporate and residential customers following the arrival of the international fibre optic cables, Seacom and Teams.” said Mr Jonathan Somen, the firm’s Group Managing Director.

“We have now broken the 3,000 residential customer barriers—ahead of our target of 2,800 residential customers, and moved past 3,100 corporate customers — our original target for this year.”

On the residential front, the company is targeting customers who can spend Sh4,000 a month or more to receive a guaranteed speed “mini corporate” service, with 3,000 customers out of a market of not more than 20,000 “high end” users.

This is a market share of 15 per cent just over one year after it launched Access@Home.

There are over 300,000 households in the mid to high end market category and, given the strong growth the company has experienced since the arrival of the fibre optic cables in July, it expects to see significant traction and increase in market share in 2010. 

By connecting to Access@Home users are guaranteed speed, unlimited downloads and higher levels of service and support.

Mr Somen said there was encouraging uptake from the different categories of customers, and that the company’s ability to leverage its local and international networks would continue to offer customers improved speed and value for money.

AccessKenya corporate market share has remained stable at over 40 per cent.

The company estimates that its total market size stands at around 7,500, which does not cover 20 per cent of the potential market of 40,000 corporate sin Kenya.

This means there is further potential for enormous growth; especially from the smaller corporates who were previously unable to afford the services.

The company is hooked up to both Seacom and TEAMS through its own connections, giving its customers complete redundancy (backup) on fibre optic cables.