Last year at the EA com, I was fortunate enough to meet the CEO of Huawei Kenya.

 

Back then, there was the excitement around LTE and how its introduction into foreign markets had virtually began making 3G instantly an ‘old’ technology.

 

At the time, Huawei were showcasing Modems that they had already conducted testing on, that were waaay faster than anything on the market. As the standard Modem was capable of giving speeds of 2MB…the modem’s being tested could accommodate speeds of up to 21 meg.

 

And he also told me that they were doing testing of LTE technology with Safaricom, and were hoping to be done in November last year. But since then, there have been no launches of newer faster modems…crazy speeds…despite the cables finally landing.

 

So I don’t think the issue is that Safaricom isn’t familiar with this.  I would think they probably have been ready to go with LTE for some time now

 

The question is, why would they go out of their way to introduce new technology that gives out more of their bandwidth, for a lot less money, when they could happily rake in millions if they left things as is? If the competition is nowhere near close to you, and you are making a killing off the market…don’t fix it if it aint broke.

 

I would say the best thing about the entry of Bharti and Airtel, is that they will force the market to develop and move into spaces where the consumer can actually start benefiting from the latest technologies available. Safaricom will finally have competition that drives them back to innovation…and new technologies.

 

 

 

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Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121/+254722743223
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"If you have nothing good to say about someone, just shut up!."
               -- Lucky Dube