Safaricom has announced the availability of fiber business internet services in Thika Town. This comes as the company moves to progress the country-wide fiber rollout targeting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the region.
So far, over 2,000 SME customers and over 1,400 buildings countrywide have been connected with the internet fiber network under the ‘Fiber for Business’ initiative. Safaricom will connect 25 buildings in Thika Town, as it nears completion of the first phase of the fiber rollout which kicked off last year.
“SMEs play a critical role in our economy. Our goal is to provide a platform for these enterprises to grow and unlock their potential by transforming the way they do business using technology. So far, we have seen a lot of interest in the towns we have visited and we hope that by the end of phase one, we will have more SMEs on board,” said Rita Okuthe, Director, Safaricom Business.
Thika becomes the 11th town where SMEs will be able to enjoy Safaricom’s fiber connectivity after Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Malindi, Machakos, Nanyuki, Kakamega, and Kisii.
Alternatively, SMEs can opt to subscribe to the Easy50 data bundle. This offers up to 50GB of data. This data can be accessed by up to 10 devices either by using a wireless router or by tethering their smartphones to their other devices. Especially by creating a hotspot from their smartphones.
Mobile data on the other end is growing very fast and service providers are capitalizing on it. According to the Communications Authority sector statistics, Internet subscriptions grew by 8.2% to 26.8 million during the quarter under review up from 24.8 million subscriptions recorded last quarter. This represents an increase of 35% compared to the 19.9 million subscriptions reported during the previous year. The estimated number of Internet users in Kenya grew from 37.4 million posted last quarter to 37.7 million users during the period under review. In a nutshell, more and more Kenyans are getting online and probably via inexpensive smart phones.
