Telkom Kenya triples Nairobi 4G sites to woo more clients

Telecoms company Telkom Kenya has added 200 new 4G sites in Nairobi as it seeks to woo residents with more reliable, faster mobile Internet speeds.

Tripling the number of sites in the capital is expected to boost reliability and enhance the firm’s 4G coverage from 15 per cent to 55 per cent of the population.

It brings the total number of sites in Nairobi to 300.

“Our long-term goal is to build a holistic network that provides higher speeds, capacity, quality and reliability as we also seek to further the densification of our network,” said Telkom chief technology officer John Barorot in a statement yesterday.

The firm has seen a steady rise in the usage of its 4G network since its launch last year. 4G network users account for 20 per cent of the company’s total data traffic in Nairobi.

Telkom said they expected the utilisation to double as the new sites go live.

According to the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), the expansive rollout of stronger mobile data services by Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom and Jamii sites has resulted in increased access to, and use of, data/internet services in the country considering that 99 per cent of data/internet users are on mobile data.

In May this year, Telkom expanded the reach of its 4G network to Nairobi’s outskirts, specifically Athi River, Syokimau, Kitengela, Thika, Kiambu Town, Kikuyu Town, Kiserian and Ngong.

Telkom said it was also revamping its 3G network to cater to the subscribers who make up majority of its data traffic.

The expanded 4G network coverage is the product of a Sh5 billion investment Helios made when it bought into the company two years ago.