The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) is financing the laying of 2,500 kilometres of fibre across 19 counties at a cost of Sh5 billion to enhance Internet access for Kenyans in the rural areas.
The project is 50 per cent complete, with a total of 1,300 kilometres of fibre optic connectivity already laid.
Speaking during the ITW Africa 2024 at a Nairobi hotel, CA Director General David Mugonyi said Phase II of the project, which is being undertaken in partnership with the ICT Authority (ICTA) and Kenya Power, would facilitate last-mile connectivity to 3,800 public offices and institutions across the country.
He noted that numerous studies have established a clear link between broadband access and socio-economic development, and broadband usage, which is associated with business growth and formation, particularly in knowledge-intensive industries, leading to increased access to new ideas, supply chains, and customers.
Mugonyi said access to affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet is the cornerstone of modern economies, essential for economic growth, and is also a critical factor to full participation in modern digital life.
“Today, connectivity is the biggest driver of the global economy. Without robust, secure, and competitive telecommunications markets, Africa’s participation and capacity to exploit the opportunities of a rapidly expanding digital economy are significantly constrained,” he said.
Mugonyi, however, noted that expanding access creates exposure to cyber threats, and “to set the pace for cyber security, we promulgated the Cybercrime and Computer Misuse (Critical Information Infrastructure and Cybercrime Management) Regulations early this year, hence providing an all-encompassing regulatory framework for securing our critical information infrastructure.”
The DG further said that Kenya has also established the Cyber Security Operations Centre for the ICT and Telecommunications Sector to enhance cyber security in the country.
These regulations, Mugonyi said, will boost the capacity of both public and private sector institutions supporting critical information infrastructure sectors such as e-government, telecommunications, banking and finance, transportation, energy, and health, which are all anchors of a thriving digital economy.
“The fundamental character of technology is how quickly it changes. As a regulator, this makes life interesting, and this is why we are undertaking a major reset of our legal frameworks and established a Regulatory Sandbox to ensure emerging technologies and the pacesetters that are using them are not hampered or slowed down by regulatory challenges,’’ said the DG.
CA, Mugonyi said, is committed to creating an environment that fosters competition in all sectors, and “we encourage the entry of new players and improvements in quality and scale.”
He said the ITW conference speaks volumes about the opportunities that are inherent in expanding Africa’s digital coverage—opportunities for businesses, governments, communities, innovators, and individuals.
“We gather against a harsh reality of the 400 million people across the world who lack mobile broadband coverage; almost half live in Africa,” said the DG.
He said that according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 67 per cent of the world’s population was online in 2023.
However, Mugonyi said that in low-income countries, most of which are in Africa, 27 per cent of the population used the internet in the same period, up from 24 per cent in 2022.
In particular, the DG noted, the average Internet penetration in Africa was recorded at 37 per cent in 2023.
“This 66 per cent point gap reflects the yawning digital divide between high-income and low-income countries and regions,” the CA boss asserted.
The DG said Africa cannot afford that kind of exclusion, adding that “digital technologies are our best shot at a new development narrative, and if we go fully digital, we can leap forward and unlock a new future.
He said Africa requires urgent and deliberate interventions to bridge this gap, expand access, and help its people capitalise on the opportunities of a digital economy.
“However, in our quest for acceleration, we must leave no one behind. The statistics on gender digital disparities make for grim reading. On average, 65 per cent of the global female population had access to the internet in 2023, compared to 75 per cent of the male population,” the DG said.
In the same period, Mugonyi noted, 32 per cent of the female population in Africa had access to the Internet compared to 42 per cent of males.
He said any African knows the economic contribution of women is often double or triple that of men, and “we must ensure women have access to technology because it is not only right and proper but also because they have a proven track record of higher returns.”
He said that the digital divide between developed and developing countries on the one hand and between genders on the other, is largely driven by income disparities, which in turn have a bearing on the affordability of smart devices and broadband Internet.
Mugonyi noted that the digital divide is essentially an income divide, and to drive digital inclusion, “we must make deliberate efforts to address the cost of broadband internet and SMART devices.”
He said promoting effective competition remains a sustainable avenue for driving down the cost of broadband services and addressing the challenge of affordability.
Government investment in ICT infrastructure through Universal Service Fund mechanisms, the DG said, presents an additional avenue to bridge the digital divide, especially in unserved and underserved areas.
“Over the last five years, we have deployed Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) to avail mobile network connectivity across over 130 sub-locations, covering over 750,000 people across 24 counties,” the DG said.
He further said that in Phase II of the mobile connectivity project, they are targeting 101 unserved and underserved sub-locations spread across 19 marginalised counties, and Phases III and IV will reach an additional 400 sub-locations across the country.
By Joseph Ng’ang’
