Huawei has taken 5G technology to Kenya through a partnership with Safaricom. This follows a successful contract with telcos to make 5G live in South Africa, Egypt, and Uganda.
Safaricom, the leading telco in Kenya, has begun plans to bring 5G to East Africa. Despite Huawei’s recent fallout with the United States, the acting CEO, Michael Joseph, is going ahead with plans.
Huawei has been in the news lately for taking 5G tech to several countries around the world. The Chinese phone-maker has secured over 90 commercial 5G contracts worldwide, despite pressure from U.S. authorities.
“We have 91 commercial 5G contracts worldwide, including 47 from Europe,” said the president of Huawei’s Carrier Business Group, Ryan Ding, during a press conference in London.
See Also: Huawei and MTN Runs 5G C-Band Trials at AfricaCom
Huawei also plans to invest $20 million in 5G innovation projects in the U.K., between 2020 and 2025.
The United States banned it last year from operating in America over suspicious activities surrounding China’s influence in its operations. The U.S. went ahead to instruct other allies, including African governments, to do so as well. Although this resulted in business losses in the last financial year, African countries have not backed out of its several business dealings with China. However, Huawei has already deployed 4G hoisting in 40 African countries.
This is not the first time that Safaricom would be doing business with Kenya. In fact, Safaricom’s M-Pesa was built on the Huawei Mobile Money platform. Safaricom’s acting CEO explained that there is a demand for more bandwidth and speed to provide seamless network services. The Chinese company also built its 2G, 3G, and 4G networks.
Joseph added that the 5G services network would first be offered to major cities with higher needs. Safaricom also has plans to extend its operations to Ethiopia.
More on TechGist Africa
- NCC Approves 1,492 Phone Brand & Models for Nigerians
- Competition Commission Overhauls Metered Taxi Licensing in South Africa
- Airtel Africa Sold 2.2billon shares in its Initial Public Offering in Malawi
- Carbon Launches $100000 Fund to Support Emergent Tech Startups in Africa
- Blockchain Crypto Exchange Startup, Bitfxt Raises $15M Fund to Scale Global Growth
