Kenya has the highest Mobile Internet Penetration now standing at 85.2 percent within the East African region, and this infrastructure has seen the rolling out of 4G and 5G to very remote locations.
The Cabinet Secretary ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Joe Mucheru, said the policy and regulatory environment has over the last few years provided policy instruments geared towards building investor confidence and increasing investment in the ICT space.
“During this period, the enactment of new laws, namely the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, The Data Protection Act, 2019, and the Amendments to the Copyrights Act has been done to further grow the sector,” said Mucheru.
The CS was speaking during the celebrations to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) held at a Nairobi hotel.
Mucheru said that documents such as the National ICT Policy, The Digital Economy Blueprint, National Broadband Strategy and the ICT Masterplan have been developed and were impacting positively on Kenya’s digital infrastructure and subsequently, improving and strengthening national wide connectivity in the country.
He said “as a Ministry, we are happy to see the Communications Authority, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioners and the National Cybersecurity Co-ordination Committee all consider regulations that will facilitate better engagement within the industry at various levels”.
“It is my hope that with the exponential growth seen in the ICT sector in the last 3 years, it will enable KIXP grow and I look forward to seeing higher traffic levels,” said the CS.
He said “KIXP was set up with one main goal of keeping local traffic local, the journey that began with a few kbps of traffic from 5 Internet Service Providers through Telkom Kenya has opened up to 68 peering members that consist of both local and international players”.
Mucheru congratulated KIXP for moving the traffic levels from kbps to 58G and 102 routes.
In her remarks, the Tespok Chief Executive Officer Fiona Asonga, said that the institution has facilitated flow of internet traffic not just within Kenya, but to the greater East Africa region as well as to and from international destinations.
KIXP allows Internet Service Providers to easily exchange traffic locally, without having to send the communication across multiple international hoops to reach their destination.
This has enabled the general public to benefit from improved connectivity and services to their customers.
By Hamdi Mohamud
