Kenya’s telecommunication industry regulator said it will roll out its 5G network on a pilot basis this year.
Matano Ndaro, the director of licensing, compliance and standards at the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), said that the regulator has developed a roadmap that outlines strategies to facilitate the deployment of 5G technology.
“We are now set to hold a validation workshop in the next one month to discuss the comments received. Once we adopt the input from the stakeholders, we shall establish a national 5G forum and allocate pilot frequencies,” Ndaro said when Chinese smartphone maker Vivo launched its 5G enabled device in the Kenyan market.
Ndaro revealed that the east African nation will begin to authorize the first 5G pilot projects this year and thereafter release the requisite frequency bands and subsequently issue 5G commercial licenses, saying that Kenya’s telecom operators have already begun the process of deploying the 5G infrastructure across the country.
The communications regulator will facilitate the deployment of the technology, enabling the country to derive maximum benefits from the new frontier, Ndaro said, adding that the deployment of 5G, which offers extremely fast download and upload speeds, presents a myriad of opportunities for all sectors of the economy.
In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, and is the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones.
According to the Kenyan Communications Authority, the 3G/4G coverage now covers 96.3 percent of the country’s population and 56.3 percent of the Kenyan landmass.
