PHOTO | GIDEON MAUNDU Safaricom says it will from January lay its own fibre optic cable to cut renting costs.
What you need to know:
Coming after about six years of buying fibre optic capacity from Kenya Data Network, Jamii Telecom and the National Fibre Backbone, the Sh10 billion project is seen as a late realisation that the firm should have laid its own network a few years ago when its competitors were doing so
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore noted the price of data will also fall although the effect will not be felt immediately
Initially, Safaricom chose to rent other providers’ infrastructure to deliver services but that plan has become expensive as the price of renting fibre has remained high
Safaricom will start laying its own terrestrial fibre network in January next year.
The telecoms firm, which last week announced a 94 per cent jump in after-tax profit to Sh7.8 billion for the first half of the year, said it has awarded the tender to roll out the expansive network to Ericsson and Huawei in order to cut the cost of renting other providers’ infrastructure.
