Kenya Moves Ahead With $500 Million Shared 4G Network

­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.

Safaricom 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 the 700Mhz spectrum band as it requires far fewer base stations, especially in rural areas and is hence cheaper to deploy, at least initially.

Source: Cellular-News