[Photo/IT News Africa]Liquid Telcom Kenya expects to connect an additional 10,000 homes to broadband internet this year, up from its current 2,500 homes.
Liquid Telcom Kenya’s Chairman Ben Roberts also says that they are planning to expand their corporate internet services, as the industry is currently underserved.
“We are the leading supplier of internet and data services to corporate Kenya, servicing 80 percent of banks in Kenya, multiple parastatals and many of Kenya’s leading manufacturers,” Roberts said.
The company has also laid a fibre network of 5,000 km spanning around the country and connected 41 out of 47 counties with the high-speed internet since it came to Kenya.
“We worked intensively to expand access to high-speed internet through a range of initiatives funded through Sh20.3 billion of infrastructure and other investment in the Kenyan business.”
Liquid Telcom is also planning to set up more than 350 Free Street Wi-Fi around the country, using the Sh103.2 million fund reserved to boost the project.
The free street WiFi is intended to evangelize Liquid Telcom’s internet offering to the masses and raise their subscriber numbers.
“We have no intention of charging for the use of street WiFi. Our plan is for it to remain free of charge,” Roberts explained.
The company has at the same time launched a new Wi-Fi roaming hub that enables operators and ISPs to access its network of public Wi-Fi hotspots across Africa for the first time.
Under the arrangement, Africa Wi-Fi Hub will allow Liquid Telecom’s wholesale customers to access its public Wi-Fi hotspots, enabling their subscribers to connect to hundreds of locations across five African countries, leveraging the largest independent pan-African fibre network. These include Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with additional markets to be rolled out soon.
The move comes at a time when more local ISPs and operators have joined Africa Wi-Fi Hub, with Wi-Fi roaming set to accelerate across the region, enabling more subscribers to easily and securely connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots and avoid costly data roaming charges.
Research shows there is a direct correlation between internet access and economic growth, with World Bank statistics showing that a 10 percent increase in internet access results in approximately 1 percent of extra growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year.