Loss-making Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC plans to connect millions of its customers in rural homes with high-speed Internet as part of a fresh plan to capitalise on burgeoning mobile data usage in the country and grow new revenue streams.
This is a step up by the electricity distributor, which has been leasing fibre-optic cables attached to its transmission lines to Internet service providers.
Kenya Power said it would now directly target to connect rural customers with the Internet at a time it has expanded electricity penetration across the country by connecting millions of new homes in rural areas to its national grid.
This will see it take the battle for Internet customers to Telkom Kenya, Kenya Data Networks, Safaricom, Jamii Telecoms, AccessKenya, Essar Telecoms and Wananchi Group that have dominated the Internet market.
“In the medium to long-term, the company is exploring the lit fibre business to increase the penetration of internet connectivity, particularly in the rural areas,” said Kenya Power in its latest annual report.
The plan that could rattle Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that have been riding on the Kenya Power network to sell Internet gives the electricity distributor a head-start in the race for connecting rural homes with the Internet as it would ride on its electricity transmission network to link fibre networks to homes.
Currently, ISPs have been relying on Kenya Power’s expansive power transmission network to give them access to the nearly eight million electricity customers and substantially reduce the cost of expensive infrastructure support involving the digging of trenches to lay terrestrial cables.
In 2010, Kenya Power signed a 20-year lease agreement worth $3.8 million (Sh421 million) with Safaricom for use of a pair of fibre cables. It also inked deals with telecoms firms Wananchi Group and Jamii Telecommunications with each signing five-year leases worth a total of $3.6 million (Sh403 million).
“The company’s extensive fibre network presently offers dark fibre services to the country’s major ISPs to facilitate the provision of Internet services to the end buyer in the retail and enterprise segments across the country and neighbouring countries,” said the utility company.
Kenya Power customers stood at 8,278,203 at the end of June 2021, pointing to a huge pool of clients.
The majority of Kenya’s ISPs do not have the capacity to supply downstream consumers with fibre optic bandwidth, leaving room for a few players, who may use the advantage to keep prices high. The ISPs charge between Sh1,000 and up to […]
