1. It is not a coincidence that Kenya is referred to as Africa’s Silicon Savannah. As a country, we are in the forefront of technological innovations in the East African region as the Government continues to invest in the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) sector, which is a key contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
2. Access to ICT remains a major way of contributing to our country’s economic growth as it has been proven by the many services put online. Mobile money payments where Kenyans now save time that was initially spent on queues in the banking halls, set the pace for the ongoing technological developments. This ICT potential gives the government the reason to expand internet coverage with the main aim being to enhance ease of business transactions and create employment for the youth through online jobs.
LAST MILE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY 3. Key among the projects the Government is undertaking to expand internet coverage and bridge the digital gap is the Last Mile County Connectivity. The project was started in 2011 and is funded through a loan agreement between Kenya and the Kingdom of Belgium. The project’s aim is to connect County and National Government Offices in all the 47 counties with telephony service complete with headsets, video conferencing applications and Internet service. This has been made possible by the connection of different governmental buildings in the counties with the National Fiber Bone Optic Infrastructure (NOFBI) linking them to the Ministries in Nairobi, using wired and wireless mediums.
4. With the completed three phases of the project, Kenyans are able to enjoy intercommunication through uninterruptible voice service, access to internet services for browsing, video and call-conferencing, Zoom meetings as well as the deployment of application services. The Government has also operationalized the Network Operating Centre inter-connecting over 650 government buildings into one homogeneous government network.
5. Phase four of the project is on course and the project plans to fill the gaps left during the previous three phases in terms of connecting as many government offices as possible to NOFBI covering all the County headquarters. This entails connecting a total of 455 sites where 279 sites form the primary sites with active equipment and 176 sites to be served from the primary ones. Upon full implementation, a total of 78 Kilometers of Fiber optic, 595 indoor and 138 outdoor Wi-Fi points will be enabled to serve as public Wi-Fi spots.
6. These installations began on 4th September, 2023 running concurrently across the first 23 counties and a total of 210 sites have been connected and are waiting inspection and acceptance before end of this month. The project phase is to install the next batch of 23 counties between this month and June 2024.
7. Phase 5 which is the final stage of the last mile connectivity project is designed to connect government offices down to the sub-county level, to the NOFBI network effectively connecting an average of six buildings in 110 of the 314 Sub-Counties nationally incorporating 660 sites. At the 21 end, 102 Kilometers of Fiber 3 Wi-Fi points (2 indoor and 1 outdoor) shall have been done in the 110 sub-counties.
8. The Last Mile County connectivity project is aligned to the Kenya Kwanza administration’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which involves the installation of reliable, stable, affordable and high-speed internet connectivity across the country, to facilitate efficient and effective provisioning of government services.
9. The administration had pledged in its manifesto to ensure universal broadband availability throughout the country within five years and to increase and fast-track broadband connectivity across the country by constructing 100, 000 kilometers of national fiber optic connectivity network.
10. The BETA Blue Print also seeks to enhance government service delivery through digitization and automation of all critical government processes and to make available 80 per cent of government services online. Towards this course the following has so far been achieved:
• Kenya has made a successful bid to host the global conference on connected Africa in April 2024, Data protection conference in May 2024 and International Association of Science Park (IASP) in September. • Connected 247 digital hubs with internet • Trained a total of 800 youths under the Presidential Digital Talent Program. • Deployed a total of 800 youths under the Presidential Digital Talent Program. • Cumulatively deployed a total of 12,087 virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) devices. • Established 136 Jitume sites • Undertook key policy reviews and investor outreaches, leading to enhanced and continued operations of the African software development Centre in collaboration with Microsoft and establishment of Amazon Web Service (AWS) Development Centre. Subsequently, Microsoft and AWS centres have employed 500 and 100 software engineers respectively. • Cumulatively laid 13, 712 Kilometers of fiber cable. • Increased the number of Public WiFi Hot spots from 40 in 2022 to 1,222 in 2023. Cumulatively, 1,262 WiFi spots have been established. • Digitized a total of 12,692 citizen facing services in 2023/2024, increasing the number from 391 in 2022 • On-boarded a total of 72 clients (Government 53, Private 19) onto the Konza Data Centre in 2023/24 against 33 clients in 2022/23 • Connected 119,462 youths to online jobsKONZA TECHNOPOLIS.
11. The administration had further promised to strengthen Konza Technopolis to bring together industry, academic institutions and other innovators to co-invest in emerging technologies. This is designed to create high-quality jobs that leverage on artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies and thus enhance our regional and global competitiveness. Investments in the Park were also envisioned to accelerate the country’s economic agenda by enabling at least 2 Percent of the country’s GDP.
12. Planned to be a Centre of Excellence in emerging technologies, the Technopolis is developing a smart city of international standards. So far it has attracted over 85 percent of both local and international investors, who are focused on Academia, Technology sectors, research and development, mixed use development (Housing, hospitality, conventions) light manufacturing and logistics.
13. As a platform, Konza Technopolis is therefore, providing the impetus the country needs to accelerate its development in the Digital era. For example, Konza Cloud is providing cutting edge solutions and enabling 41 development Centre in collaboration with Microsoft and establishment of Amazon Web Service (AWS) Development Centre. Subsequently, Microsoft and AWS centres have employed 500 and 100 software engineers respectively. • Cumulatively laid 13, 712 Kilometers of fiber cable.
• Increased the number of Public WiFi Hot spots from 40 in 2022 to 1,222 in 2023. Cumulatively, 1,262 WiFi spots have been established. • Digitized a total of 12,692 citizen facing services in 2023/2024, increasing the number from 391 in 2022 • On-boarded a total of 72 clients (Government 53, Private 19) onto the Konza Data Centre in 2023/24 against 33 clients in 2022/23 • Connected 119,462 youths to online jobs
KONZA TECHNOPOLIS 11. The administration had further promised to strengthen Konza Technopolis to bring together industry, academic institutions and other innovators to co-invest in emerging technologies. This is designed to create high-quality jobs that leverage on artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies and thus enhance our regional and global competitiveness. Investments in the Park were also envisioned to accelerate the country’s economic agenda by enabling at least 2 Percent of the country’s GDP.
12. Planned to be a Centre of Excellence in emerging technologies, the Technopolis is developing a smart city of international standards. So far it has attracted over 85 percent of both local and international investors, who are focused on Academia, Technology sectors, research and development, mixed use development (Housing, hospitality, conventions) light manufacturing and logistics.
13. As a platform, Konza Technopolis is therefore, providing the impetus the country needs to accelerate its development in the Digital era. For example, Konza Cloud is providing cutting edge solutions and enabling innovators , startups and enterprises to rieap the benefits of technology solutions ability to sale market place improve efficienees and deliver services and solutions to the people. The platform accommodates the first virtual universities that is enabling affordable and quality access to high quality access to education to all kenyans irrespective of their locations.
