Mobile Broadband Revolution in Kenya

Recently, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) director general Mr. Charles Njoroge announced the reduction of the 3G license fee from $ 25 million to $10 million, a 60 percent decline. What did not occur to most people is the fact that CCK will allow telecom operators to upgrade to 4G technology without additional license fee charges. This presents an opportunity to the telecom operators to migrate to higher bandwidth data service on high-end mobile devices or suitable customer premises equipment (CPEs). The 4G technology would provide a suitable platform to IP based solutions such as web conference, IP telephony, high speed Internet access, gaming services and streamed multimedia.

4G refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to 3G and 2G families of standards. The nomenclature of the generations generally refers to a change in the fundamental nature of the service, non-backwards compatible transmission technology and new frequency bands. The first was the move from 1981 analog (1G) to digital (2G) transmission in 1992. This was followed, in 2002, by 3G multi-media support, spread spectrum transmission and at least 200 kbit/s, soon expected to be followed by 4G, which refers to all-IP packet-switched networks, mobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access and multi-carrier transmission. Currently, Pre-4G technologies, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Mobile Wimax, exist in the global market. In October 2010, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is scheduled to release the 4G International Standard after a further test and evaluation of the proposals for 4G Standardization.

Looking at the history of mobile telephony, digital wireless and cellular networks go back to the1940s when commercial mobile telephony began. The first invention of the cellular phone is referred to as 0G. Since there were no telephone networks at this time, callers had to connect these phones to a base station, which connected them to an operator, then connecting their calls. In 1946, AT&T and Southwestern Bell introduced the first American commercial mobile radio-telephone service. Mobiles used newly issued vehicle radio-telephone licenses which operated on six channels in the 150 MHz band with a 60 kHz channel spacing. In the early 1980s, 1G Technology debuted, featuring large cellular phones, sometimes referred to as cellular radios, connected to limited networks of stations. A conspicuous icon of the 1G was the large car phones of the 80s, fitted in executive limousines.

In the 1990s, the 'second generation' (2G) mobile phone systems emerged, primarily using the GSM standard. This marked the first time that the general public began widespread use of this type of technology, introducing the public to portable phones. Networks were still somewhat limited at this time, with many cellular phones subject to roaming charges when their users wandered outside of a specified geographic area, and the vast majority of these devices were used solely for phone calls. These 2G phone systems differed from the previous generation in their use of digital transmission instead of analog transmission.


The first pre-commercial 3G network was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in May 2001. 3G Technology marked the first time that cellular phones could directly connect to the internet, transforming the technology from a phone-based technology to a technology used in a wide array of devices. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services, and provide peak data rates of at least 200 kbit/s for internet access, email, instant messaging and a host of other functions. Additionally, this technology allows laptop computer users to connect to the internet wirelessly.

With us now is the 4G Technology. This technology aims to provide users with much faster connections capable of transmitted much larger amounts of data. The peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for fixed wireless access units. Smart devices will be able to stream high-definition television and radio, and allow users to walk from one network to the next without an interruption in reception. One of the major differences between the 4G and 3G technology is the elimination of circuit switching technique and replacing it with an all-IP network. This means that voice calls are processed just like any other type of streaming audio media, utilizing the features of a packet switched network.

Safaricom is the only network operating the 3G technology on GSM commercially, with Telkom Kenya operating on EVDO/CDMA2000. Zain, Yu and Telkom Kenya are yet to introduce 3G on GSM commercially. Zain Kenya has already indicated that it will be rolling out 3G services by December, after both Telkom Kenya and Zain paid $10 million each for their 3G licences. These operators have the advantage of upgrade to 4G at no additional license cost in the future. Safaricom has already started testing fourth generation (4G) services on its network, planning on a release later this year. The challenge for the introduction of this technology by the telcom service providers is the availability of a frequency spectrum. Digital TV will probably assist to free up some of the frequencies occupied by commercial television.