Kenya Power and Safaricom Partner to Bring Internet to Kenya Homes

Kenya Power has announced that it will partner with the telecommunication giant Safaricom Limited to jointly deliver internet to Kenyan homes. Kenya power which had set to venture into the already thriving internet business in the year 2015, was yet to set the ball rolling on the matter. The company had established a subsidiary, Kenya Power International for the sole purpose of making sure that the internet business gets the limelight. Safaricom will now undertake the services to distribute the internet through Kenya Power International.

Safaricom and Kenya Power have now signed an agreement that will see them work together in effecting the project that will see more than 12,000 homes in Kenya within a span of 12 months receiving internet via fiber optic. The project is targeting homes within Nairobi with plans of rolling it across the country being underway. Prior to the signing of the agreement, Kenya Power already has more than 4,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable in Kenya though it has not been solely been operating to issue internet but leasing them out to other player in the internet industry. Safaricom on the other hand has 3,200 kilometers of fiber optic that is already connected to 7,000 homes and the network will now widely expand given the partnership.

This is not the first partnership between Kenya Power and Safaricom. In 2015, Kenya Power and Safaricom partnered in a move that saw Kenya Power customers being able to pay for their power bills via MPESA. The other feature that emerged after the partnership and one that made some customers dance with joy was that of Okoa Stima. This enabled customers who had no cash at the time of the completion of their power subscription to get power from Kenya Power as a form of loan via MPESA and the pay later. The Okoa Stima gives a Kenya Power Customer a period of seven days to pay with an interest of 10 percent.

Article by Juma Fred.