According to the country’s telecoms minister, Kenya is looking to launch 4G broadband in an effort to raise the internet’s contribution to economic growth, which it hopes will increase to 10% in 2017 from 2.9% this year.
Governmental proposals for the network include a private-public partnership wholesale model, where investors partner with the authorities to build the network, and sell wholesale capacity and spectrum access to operators.
Safaricom has requested an auction for existing operators, and Kenya’s Minister for Information Communication Technologies (ICT) said that the government was “open for discussions”.
A price war has broken in Kenya over recent years, forcing some players out of the market, including Essar’s Yu, which was bought by Safaricom and Airtel.
