Industry insiders agree that the ongoing changes in the building code are timely and necessary and they are in tune with developments in other parts of the world.
As much as majority of Kenyans use mobile internet on their phones, the use of fibre is steadily growing across the country, covering many homes and businesses in major cities.
Kenya has for nearly a decade now, seen new commercial and real estate developments incorporating provisions for fibre optic internet cabling into their designs and civil works.
But it is only now that there is a move to ensure these provisions are anchored in the law, with recent discussions centering on updating the building code.
The National Construction Authority is currently in the process of a public validation of their version of Draft National Building Regulations (National Building Code)2020. This is the latest bid to replace the decades-old building code.
Industry insiders agree that the ongoing changes in the building code are timely and necessary and they are in tune with developments in other parts of the world.
Many things have changed in the past 50 years, not least the development of the internet, which is a critical infrastructure for studying, communicating, shopping, trading, working, accessing government services, and of course, entertainment.
As much as majority of Kenyans use mobile internet on their phones, the use of fibre is steadily growing across the country, covering many homes and businesses in major cities, and no doubt they will be able to at least cover all major streets in the urban areas.
The availability of broadband will not only enable consumers and businesses to reap the huge benefits of the fastest and most resilient internet connections, but also make local communities better places to live, to invest, to set up business and retain talented young people.
For the economy, it will support increased productivity and new business opportunities. But for this to be achieved, there is a need and opportunity for better internet connectivity at home and in the business. Enter the gigabit speed era.
How fast is 1 gigabit (1000Mbps) in terms of usage? The following are examples of files with the average download duration: it will take less than one second to download a music file, three seconds to download a television episode, eight seconds to download a television episode and two minutes to download a 15 gigabyte Blu Ray movie.
Gigabit era
The new gigabit era recognises particular trends that require higher internet bandwidth with faster download speeds. These include the increasing use of online video streaming services, online gaming, the rise of immersive media and remote work as well as a growing need of online file storage space.
To meet these needs of the population, it is incumbent upon industry players to up their game on infrastructure and equipment that will support the emerging generation of internet users.
At the 2022 edition of the annual Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Huawei for instance released a new gigabit fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) range of devices that extend fiber connectivity to every room in order to build an all-optical base for smart homes and digital enterprises.
Speaking during the official unveil, Jeffrey Zhou, President of Access Product Line at Huawei Technologies said that since the breakout of Covid-19, global digital transformation has accelerated tremendously with home broadband use shifting from high-definition video-based entertainment to multi-centre services such as immersive XR experience, online office, and whole-house intelligence.
Enterprise services have also migrated to the cloud. According to Zhou, the new FTTR solutions are designed to ensure that fibre connections are routed to each room and tested to deliver a rate of 1200 Mbps per space.
At the same time, its innovative smart roaming technology is used to implement one network for an entire house. The roaming handover time is less than 20ms, ensuring seamless handover anytime anywhere.
“The FTTR uses ultra-flexible transparent fibers as the networking media. These are corrosion-resistant, cost-effective and environment-friendly, and have a service life of up to 30 years,” added Zhou.
Small and medium-sized enterprises will use the FTTR enterprise service that comprises optical gateways, photoelectric composite cables, and optical network components. These can support 300 users simultaneously downloading content at 1 gigabit per second.
Digital infrastructure
As Kenya deploys large amounts of housing as part of the Big Four agenda and expands massively new broadband networks, there is a real opportunity for gigabit-capable infrastructure to be deployed to new homes from the outset (instead of retrospectively with the associated high civil works costs).
Ensuring that all new homes are built with gigabit-capable connections would be a significant step towards delivering world-class digital infrastructure to Kenya.
Many countries around the world have implemented regulations to do this. France in 2012 and China in 2013 are leading examples.
A European Parliamentary Directive has established minimum requirements relating to civil works and physical infrastructure so that member States must ensure that all newly constructed buildings at the end-user's location are equipped with a high-speed-ready in-building physical infrastructure, up to the network termination points.
Kenya’s ICT Policy of 2019 shows that the government has similar intentions, noting that there will be ‘coordination with all relevant government agencies to require that all new commercial and private developments are designed and adequately provided with facilities for high-speed connectivity’.
It is therefore highly encouraging to note that the new Building Regulations, currently being revised will require all new buildings to have entry manholes at street level for all new buildings; entry ducts from manholes to equipment room; equipment rooms (with access to power and cooling) in all buildings; ducts for risers to all floors; cable trays and fiber distribution terminals on all floors; data points in common areas and fiber equipment that meets relevant standards.
There are many issues that must be addressed, but it is imperative that Kenya does not miss this particular opportunity with the Building Regulations.
The writer is the Chief Executive Officer of Eleven Contractors and can be reached at [email protected]
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