The Ministry of Innovation, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary (CS), Joe Mucheru has assured stakeholders that the government will support domestication of the international spectrum treaty adopted by the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19).
Mucheru said the spectrum treaty has the ability to unlock the potential for game changing 5G – the fifth generation cellular network technology around the world and as such must be used efficiently and equitable to consumers to give them equal opportunities.
5G is the use of the radio spectrum that enables more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time, increasing speed by up to 20 times.
The CS stated that Kenya will be fully comply with the treaty that will set a framework for the fifth Generation mobile technologies as well as spectrum resource mobilisation that will help in the achievement of SDGs.
“Already there are Kenyans who are outsourcing jobs from abroad and are benefiting from such the spectrum, working for international markets through transcribing, soon we will transcribe court proceedings. These are opportunities that the youth can continue to explore with the availability of 5G,”he said.
Mucheru also said that the International coordination supported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at WRCs is essential to achieving widespread spectrum harmonisation for mobile services.
“The global identification of extremely high frequency known as “mmWave frequencies” will help unlock economies of scale needed to accelerate the delivery of innovative and affordable 5G services around the world. A wide range of industries including manufacturing, transport, healthcare and education are set to benefit,” said the CS.
Speaking on Wednesday in Nairobi during the sensitization workshop on decisions of WRC-19, the CS observed that mmWave bands are critical to providing ultra-high speeds for a wide range of consumer, business and government services that require almost instantaneous delivery of large amounts of data.
The WRC-19 has brought the mobile industry a step closer to making the full power of 5G something everyone can experience,” said Mats Granryd, the Director General GSMA said during the conference last year in Egypt.
Granryd noted that during the conference Countries struck the right balance in opening up ground breaking possibilities for 5G while protecting existing radio services worldwide. The mobile industry’s goal going into WRC-19 was to identify enough 5G spectrum to deliver long-lasting socio-economic benefits.
“WRC-19 delivered on this goal, and also secured a pathway to 5G’s future success in the agenda for WRC-23,”he had said.
The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, between 28 October and 22 November 2019.
By Alice Gworo
