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and software, and this has further led to the growth of
this sector.
In the past decade, Kenya’s has had one of the largest
and fastest growing internet sectors in Africa since the
internet came to Kenya in 1994 the country has
experienced phenomenal growth in its use. There are now
numerous internet hosts, close to 100 licensed internet
service providers and over quarter of a million internet
users in the country.
Kenya which has always been in the forefront of
information and communication technology in Africa,
establishing the first internet peering point for ISP’s
in Africa (outside South Africa). The country also
recently rolled out its first national internet backbone
connecting six cities with the use of digital switches,
fiber optic cable and satellite services. Telkom (K) Ltd
is also in the process of laying fiber optic cables to
facilitate faster connections. The effect of all these
developments will be to reduce further the cost of
internet access, thereby enabling universal use of the
medium in most parts of the country.
Information technology is now in use in various sectors
of the economy such as banking, accounting, medical
services, transportation, mining, research, defence,
agriculture and communications. Key Kenyan Parastatal
organizations and some government institutions are also
progressively making use of Information Technology and
there is a strategy in place to link all Government
departments, agencies and service providers with a view
to providing efficient, effective and citizen focussed
public services on 24/7 basis.
Telecommunications Infrastructure.
In July 1999 the government officially liberated the
telecommunications sector and the Communications
Commission of Kenya (CCK) was formed to regulate the
sector. It is felt that these initiatives will highly
improve the country’s competitiveness in international
markets. Successful use of information technology in any
given country is driven by the state of the
telecommunication and information infrastructure
available in that country. Kenya is one of the fastest
growing mobile markets in Africa. Within a 5 year period
Kenya growth in the mobile industry has managed to
connect 5 million subscribers. Since the 1970’s the
Kenya government has shown a very keen interest in
improving telecommunications in the country, and has in
fact recently set a target in increase Tele-density in
both urban and rural areas by about five times by the
year 2015.
ICT
Sector profile
-Courtesy (EPZA KENYA)
(692 kb)
Other Links:
Investment opportunities in ICT
Current ICT Market
Structure
The
Kenya Fiber System
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