Kenya’s Kilifi County is set to join the party of 39 counties currently enjoying data connectivity from Liquid Telecom in the firm’s 50 Million Dollars investment project that seeks to connect businesses and county governments to fast internet through its fibre optic connectivity.
In the new development to add Kilifi County, 11 ministries are set to receive fibre optic connection on a 10 kilometre Wide Area Network (WAN), with two other ministries getting microwave connection and four others planned to get connected on very small aperture terminal (VSAT).
Once the project is completed, Kilifi will have the opportunity of enjoying the fast speeds internet connection and get fast access to government services now being offered online, including a revenue collection system that is scheduled for upgrade and with good internet speeds attract more tourists.
The data, voice and IP services provider has set aside $400,000 (KSh 36.4 million) as investment for the county’s internet infrastructure, in the hope to open up Kilifi County to interconnectivity for businesses and the county government premises as well as create more jobs for unemployed Kenyans.
Planned for completion in the next four months, the project will employ 30 new staff for the installation process in the county, with additional roles to be created to see over the maintenance of the infrastructure and wireless network across the region.
“The role that internet connectivity plays in bettering the economic prospects of a region has been seen all around the world, in Africa and beyond. As we venture into Kilifi, we seek to facilitate the opening up of the county to new business opportunities,” said Paul Statham, Chief Commercial Officer at Liquid Telecom Kenya.
With the county only having four operational banks in the region that include KCB, Barclays, Equity and Imperial, Liquid Telecom believes that the availability of internet infrastructure will see more banks set up in the county to cater for customer demands and maybe even grow their customer base.
The move comes after the company connected the residents of Nakuru town to free Wi-Fi, which is the second of its kind in the East Africa region.
