Kenya’s Safaricom will on Friday, March 26, launch the country’s first fifth-generation (5G) mobile internet services targeting major urban centres.
The launch of the network supported by the Nokia Corporation and Huawei, follows completed testing and trials conducted last year for the upgraded network as the company seeks to capitalise on the quick-paced use of mobile Internet in the country.
“Safaricom will be the first operator in East Africa to launch 5G services and will be showcasing the capabilities of the network with the aid of Huawei and Nokia’s technologies,” Safaricom said.
According to Safaricom, the 5G service is a central part of its attempts to further expand its data business to counter slower growth in voice calls revenue.
Safaricom has seen web data revenue grow more than three times over the past five years to Sh49.6 billion ($451 million) last year.
Kenya’s telephony market has evolved over the past five years, with growth in data sales increasing faster than revenues from voice. Competition in this space is growing with Jamii Telecom being the latest to launch the 4G proposition, offering data at prices relatively cheaper than what is in the market.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya shows that Safaricom grew its mobile subscriptions 4.2 percent to 38.144 million end-September 2020 out of the 58.9 million mobile subscribers.
Chipmaker Qualcomm has indicated that 5G could achieve browsing and download speeds about 10 to 20 times faster than those offered by 4G. That would allow a consumer to download a high-definition film in a minute or so.
Mobile gamers will also notice less delay – or latency – when pressing a button on a controller and seeing the effect on screen. Similarly, mobile videos should be near instantaneous and glitch-free while video calls would become clearer and less jerky under the 5G network.
