Safaricom plans over 150 5G sites within 12 months as it starts customer trials

News Wireless Kenya 26 MAR 2021
Safaricom plans over 150 5G sites within 12 months as it starts customer trials

Safaricom has announced the launch of 5G technology trials for customers and plans to expand the number of 5G sites to over 150 in nine towns in the next twelve months. The trial will begin with individual and enterprise customers in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega. Safaricom said the primary objective for the trial will be to establish if customers can obtain service at up to 700 Mbps, with plans to offer more than 1 Gbps in the coming months.

Nokia and Huawei have been chosen as suppliers. Nokia's 5G Single Radio Access Network (SRAN) equipment and 5G FastMile gateways enable Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to Safaricom subscribers in Kisumu and Western Kenya. For mobile internet customers, the service will be available on certain 5G smartphones, beginning with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and P40 currently, and from the end of April the Nokia 8.3, Samsung Galaxy S 21 series, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G. Enterprise and Home Internet customers on the service will be provided with a 5G router.

At a launch event in Nairobi, Safaricom showcased the capabilities of the 5G network with three applications, namely holograms, Ultra-HD video communication, and virtual fashion shopping. In the hologram showcase, the live 5G network was used to teleport Safaricom's executives from its office in Kisumu to the launch event in Nairobi.

In the second showcase, UHD video communication was done using 5G FWA connectivity powered by WiFi-6 with Nokia Beacon 6. The third showcase demonstrated use of 5G to change shopping by letting customers try on clothes virtually.

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Nokia,  Safaricom,  Huawei

Countries:

Kenya

Tags:

Production planning & operations, Data services, Network equipment, Network operations services, Wireless, Internet Access, Consumer, Enterprise, 5G

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