#Connectedke2017: How IoT will shape Kenya’s future and sectors that will be impacted

However, IoT has had limitations especially relating to standardization. This has seen the emergence of new technologies like The Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), which also faced challenges. When the IoT work-stream was initiated, the release 13 came up with a standard where things will connect through a standardized spectrum, known as Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT).

In a panel discussion at ninth Connected Kenya Summit, panelists addressed key areas where they see the use of IoT will be or is impactful in Kenya.

In Kenya, NB-IoT is actually being used in the country around areas of smart metering and animal tracking, panelists noted.

“Safaricom is part of NB-IoT Forum under GSMA. Safaricom actually has an NB-IoT lab and we are running some case studies around Smart metering and animal tracking. NB-IoT currently runs on the current Safaricom LTE infrastructure,” said Gaudensia Chepkonga, senior manager strategy, Access- Safaricom Limited and one of the panelists.

Members of the panel at the event, held in Diani, Kwale County, included Kris Senanu, managing director, Enterprises Services-Telkom Kenya Limited, and Francis Nderitu, regional coordinator-Singularity EA Global Impact Challenge,

Areas thought by panelists to be impacted by IoT and related technologies include:

Agriculture: Mr. Senanu pointed out that IoT will have a major impact in this area. “This country produces a lot of milk and the cow to produce depends on a couple of things: weather, the area it grazes in and its activities. Using basic things such as IoT, you can have sensors on the cows and that can keep you posted on the cow’s activities. This now translates to help the farmer know what best suites his cow.”

Mr. Nderitu noted that Illuminium Greenhouses, an Agritech company uses IoT sensors in Kenya to help farmers increase efficiency by collecting data from greenhouses to understand what their plants require.

Education: Panelists noted the deployment of connected devices to have standardized content across the country so that a child in Bungoma has the same content as a child in Mandera County.

Enhanced Security: This is an area where we the panel stated that there will be an increased use of IoT.

Monitoring of Wildlife: IoT is being used to monitor endangered species like rhinos and elephants through the animals being fitted with chip-based devices that collect information that’s relayed into a central position, the panelists said, noting that through the data collected, wildlife conservationists can craft plans and solutions.

Today, the technology has been deployed by the Save The Elephant Foundation in partnership with Safaricom and Huawei , which uses NB-IoT technology, a standardized spectrum that provides easy device-to-device communication, panelists said.

Disaster Monitoring: IoT will help prevent disasters if we get sensors in places that are prone to disaster, which will help people make real-time decisions from data collected and avoid or minimize disasters, according to panelists.

Building and Construction: IoT will be applied in a number of ways, notably to help in stress-testing buildings and bridges, the panelists said.