Telkom Kenya has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ericsson and NEC XON to boost the operator’s network with an additional 2000 wireless sites by 2023.

The agreement is worth around US$100 million, and forms part of the expansion strategy announced by Telkom Kenya in August 2020. The operator’s CEO Mugo Kibati said that Telkom Kenya had committed to investing in its infrastructure asset base and services to drive digital transformation within its customer segments, as well as expanding its mobile data network.

Mugo Kibati, CEO of Telkom Kenya, commented on the deal saying: “We are already working on the upgrade and expansion of our network at the coast”, said Kibati. “We continue with our long-term terrestrial network expansion plan that is informed by our overall company strategy, which will see us scale up to 80% of our network to 4G, increase our network footprint across the country, and get more Kenyans online”.

On the other hand, Wilhem Wentzel, GM of Wireless at NEC XON also expressed his excitement on the partnership: “We are assisting Telkom Kenya to roll out a leading, robust 4G network with a future-proof foundation to enable their strategic vision to compete as one of the major East African service providers. The rollout augments Telkom’s existing network infrastructure by delivering world-class quality of experience (QoE) to more customers across a much wider coverage area”.

Todd Ashton, VP and MD of Ericsson South and East Africa, added: “Our latest collaboration will increase mobile coverage across the country, to provide a seamless data experience to Kenyans. In line with Kenya’s Vision 2030, more people will have access to affordable Internet that will enable business continuity for people and enterprises contributing to the economic growth in Kenya and in setting #AfricaInMotion. This is just the beginning, with the LTE expansion setting the foundation to deploy 5G in the future”.