Kenya gov’t to lay another 1,600 kilometres of fibre from June

This was said by the ICT Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i during the launch of the Presidential Digital Talent Programme on Tuesday February 10, that saw 100 graduate trainees get offers for internships and mentorship this year by international as well as local technology companies.

“On the 18th of June after the digital migration we will start on building the LTE network to allow Kenyans broader access to the internet, and we will have a real 21st century government, as it were,” said Matiang’i.

Last year in September, Dr Matiang’i launched the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure Phase 11 (NOFBI Phase 11) in Embu County. The implementation of the project is set to ease communication across counties as well as improve government service delivery to the citizens such as application of national identity cards, passports and registration of birth and death certificates. The 6 billion project once fully implemented, will cover 2100 kilometers in all 47 Counties.

Telecommunications Company Huawei was awarded the contract to build a national fibre optic infrastructure to connect Nairobi with other key towns in the country. The project which is jointly funded by the Government of Kenya and a loan from the Chinese Government is expected to be fully implemented by end of 2015.

Other key deliverables by the project include creation of job opportunities to the youths especially those who reside in Embu region as well as high speed internet connectivity to the National and County Government offices.

Launched in 2009, the national optic fibre backbone infrastructure project, NOFBI aims at connecting the entire country to high speed broadband.