October 9, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke Verbatim NEWSFOCUS | 7 powering Kenya’s development 1.Telkom CEO, Aldo Mareuse, and CS Information, Communication and Technology, Joe Mucheru 2.The official opening of Telkom’s Mombasa shop. Ped quatius ciusamusam, cus. Hendis a cone mo eum ne verum fugiatis quis vent offictotam, que idel inum eiciatus quam nima namuscit lam exerum que pra quaturSinissum lant endani nima que idescilicae velestem autentinte quiae raerro modions enimus aut que laudici 3.Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o (Kisumu County) and Prof. Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni County), Kisumu County Deputy Governor, Dr. Mathew Owili and Kisumu County’s First Lady, Dorothy Nyong’o join Telkom CEO, Aldo Mareuse in cutting cake to mark the launch of Telkom’s new retail outlet in Kisumu. The retail shop opening is part of the telco’s strategy to grow its regional footprint through customer centric product and service offerings. 1 4.KRU secures Telkom’s partnership for Sevens Tourney we have the task of delivering this future. The world is moving towards advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, among others that run on connectivity. In Kenya today, majority of data subscriptions are on mobile. This means that as the digital future continues to become apparent, the industry will need to make sure that as many Kenyans as possible can connect to the Internet by enhancing access physically, by expanding and densifying the network; and from a cost point of view to make sure that it is affordable. This is the reason we continue to invest in 4 6000km across the country, connecting all 47 counties and the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania and Sudan. Through our partners, we have seamless connectivity to multiple international networks, which provide a stable, secure and redundant network for connecting to today’s converging world. In 2009, Telkom was part of the team that realised the landing of the country’s first submarine cable and has shareholding in TEAMS (The East African Marine System) and LION II (Lower Indian Ocean Network II). We continue to invest in these cables, guided by the growth in traffic to further strengthen Kenya’s position as an ICT hub in the data traffic ecosystem. We are ready to interconnect new regions of the world while building the country’s resilience. What was Telkom’s recently announced partnership with Loon about? The strategic partnership by Telkom with Loon Inc., a sister company of Google, aims to deliver the Internet in hard-to-reach areas of the country. Under this partnership, we aim to extend 4G/ LTE coverage to rural and suburban areas that ordinarily would either be hard to reach or those that would not make economic sense. This balloon-powered Internet will facilitate the provision of high-quality and reliable service to larger parts of the country, than would have been deemed impossible, earlier, where access to service is hampered by mountainous and inaccessible terrain. It also includes areas with lower population densities. By way of highaltitude balloons operating 60,000 feet above sea level, well above air traffic and far removed from the interference of weather events. These balloons will act as floating cell towers, transmitting service directly to a subscriber’s existing 4G/ LTE phone on the ground below. It is an exciting development because it will be Loon’s first commercial service in Africa and the world, expected to be deployed in 2019. How does the future of the mobile industry look, and how is Telkom preparing for it? The mobile industry in Kenya still has huge potential. The future is digital and as an industry our network and the rest of the business operations. Our investment in network covers the entire spectrum of 2G, 3G and 4G technology. Our long-term goal is to build a holistic network that provides higher speeds, capacity, quality and reliability. For our 4G network, we aim to cover all the 76 urban centres in the country seeing as 55 per cent of Nairobi’s population is already served with a signal reasonable enough to provide indoor coverage. Telkom has recently signed an agreement with the American Tower Company to acquire The mobile industry in Kenya still has huge potential. The future is digital and as an industry we have the task of delivering this future. The world is moving towards advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, among others that run on connectivity. In Kenya today, majority of data subscriptions are on mobile 2 up to 723 towers. This will enable us focus on our core business – the provision of quality services to our customers, in addition to releasing capital for further investment in the business and enhancing services. However, for us to effectively deliver on all this, a progressive regulatory environment is needed to foster competition and growth. We continue to engage the regulator and other stakeholders in this regard. What investments are you making towards managing data? Businesses are today investing heavily in data server space, in carrier neutral data centres for cloud services, back up their data, intersperse to other companies and provide secure, convenient services to their customers. We recently launched a KSh150 million data centre to improve on network quality, collocation and hosting services, Internet connectivity and local loop connectivity. The modernised open access facility is part of Telkom’s network infrastructure expansion programme and is capable of hosting local and international clients at the site. This latest investment is meant to leverage rising demand for cloud-based services for Kenyan and regional businesses, scalable to a customer’s requirements. The new infrastructure provides access to the national fibre backbone and metro capacities across the country whilst offering turnkey solution support for public and private cloud deployment and multi-channel access to services. What about concerns regarding data security and cybercrime? Security is an important consideration in delivering all our products and services. We have in place measures to safeguard data from internal and external compromise. In recent days, there have been several cyber threats locally and internationally, leading to losses by individuals and organizations. We continue to invest in initiatives, tools and resources that safeguard our customer data to match the ever-evolving cyber threats to ensure business continuity.
8 Publizr Home