Kenya continues to plan single LTE network at 2.6GHz

The Kenyan government is pushing ahead with plans for a shared 4G network, despite opposition from the country’s dominant mobile network, Safaricom.

The government plans to spend upwards of US$500 million with the deployment due to start next year.

Speaking to Reuters, Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary of the ministry of information and communication, said that the deal was set, but that the government was awaiting financing.

“We have finished with the study. We have sent it to the ministry of finance. We are just waiting for the approval and then we hit the road,” he said.

Safaricom recently said that it will withdraw from the plans for a shared LTE network for all the mobile networks if the government insists that it operate in the 2.6GHz spectrum band. Safaricom wants the network to be built using 700MHz spectrum band as it requires far fewer base stations, especially in rural areas and is hence cheaper to deploy, at least initially.

However, the regulator has rejected that demand and said that it will continue with plans for a network in the 2.6GHz band.