Airtel’s Africa arm and telecom gear maker Nokia on Monday announced a three-year deal to modernize network in Nairobi with high-speed 4G and deploy 5G-ready equipment.
The deployment which began in June will cover hundreds of sites and include upgrading existing 2G, 3G and 4G radio access network (RAN) coverage in urban, semi-urban, highways, tourist spots and central business districts in Nairobi and the rest of Kenya.
Nokia’s future-proofed network infrastructure will also offer Airtel Kenya the option to smoothly transition to 5G when necessary. The upgraded network will deliver enhanced connectivity to customers of Airtel Kenya and access to new, high-speed data services.
Airtel Kenya CEO P.D Sarma said in the statement said, “We are rolling out our network to enhance coverage along with modernization of our data network that will help us deliver improved, high-speed data services to our customers.”
He added that this will allow customers seamless coverage enhancing their browsing experience further.
“We are excited to partner with Nokia on this project. Its technology portfolio improves our network quality considerably and also allows us to move to 5G services in the future.”
Nokia is supplying Airtel Kenya with its Air Scale Single RAN portfolio for both indoor and outdoor coverage, including base stations and radio access products. These solutions will enable Airtel Kenya to deliver improved connectivity and capacity benefits including enhanced voice and data services to its subscribers while reducing complexity and driving cost efficiencies.
“This is an exciting deal in an exciting market. We are proud to supply Airtel Kenya with our comprehensive Air Scale portfolio and support the operator with its efforts to deliver the best possible connectivity experiences to end-users in Kenya.” Rajiv Aggarwal, Head of CEWA Market Unit at Nokia said.
By Christabel Airo