KENYA’S BID FOR INTERNET ACCESS IN REMOTE AREAS GETS BOOST

Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU  

By JAMES KARIUKI

Kenya’s efforts to expand Web-based trade and learning to remote areas has received a major boost after a venture backed by Microsoft and USAid received cash for the construction of solar-powered Internet masts in rural areas.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US government-owned development finance agency, has disbursed the first tranche of the Sh410 million loan it pledged to Mawingu Networks last year.

The money will be used to install solar-powered “nomadic” wireless Internet stations in remote areas.

The lending agreement between OPIC and Mawingu is one of the deals signed between the Kenyan and US entities during the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Nairobi and attended by President Barack Obama.

In a statement, OPIC’s President Elizabeth Littlefield said the soft loan was finally released to Mawingu after its initial pilot model proved viable for commercial expansion. The Mawingu model uses the TV White Space (TVWS) technology for off-grid Internet access.

TV White Space spectrum became available after Kenya ditched analogue TV transmission in favour of digital transmission technology last year, freeing UHF frequencies for reallocation.

READ: Microsoft links remote areas to the Internet using solar power

TVWS enables the delivery of broadband Internet to far flung regions wirelessly and has been tested by Indigo Telecom to deliver bandwidth speeds of up to 16 Mbit/s to three rural communities in Kenya in Male, Gakawa and Laikipia.

Ms Littlefield termed the project revolutionary as rural communities without electricity will have access to the Internet for online-learning, commerce and entertainment.

“Its extensive reach will connect many of these developing communities to the World Wide Web and we look forward to the growth and unlimited potential that this project will unveil with OPIC financing,” she said.

Mawingu Networks Director Tim Hobbs said the funds injection would help them accelerate the roll out of their network in rural areas across Kenya, adding that affordable Internet access was a powerful driver of economic growth.

US State Department’s Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Ms Catherine Novelli called for closer government-private sector ties saying it could fast-track the execution of Internet related projects thereby bringing onboard rural communities to the Web.
SOURCE: NATION MEDIA