Safaricom doubles bandwidth to support clients working from home
Noel Wandera @NoelWandera5
Safaricom has doubled its bandwidth to accommodate the work-from-home plea by the government as part of measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the doubling of its bandwidth is bearing fruit, with the telco registering a 70 per cent growth in Internet data consumption and a 35 per cent increment in mobile data usage.
“Our support to the government’s directive for people to work from home by doubling bandwidth—which effectively means customers are accessing high-speed Internet connectivity at half the normal price —has seen a double digit growth in data volumes, demonstrating that more Kenyans are indeed studying, working and connecting with their loved ones from home,” he said.
Ndegwa attributed the surge in mobile data usage to customers accessing social media and entertainment sites most popular being Netflix and Facebook.
Sustained demand
Industry rivals Telkom Kenya also reported a spike in residential data usage, with the firm’s director of sales and enterprise Geoffrey Shimanyula noting a sustained demand from corporates and international schools asking for plain internet, whether mobile or fixed data.
“Normally, corporates utilise between 80 and 90 per cent of bandwidth in their offices.
However, this has reduced to below 50 per cent,” said Shimanyula indicating the level of compliance to the Head of State’s plea for companies to retain only essential staff in the office.
