Telkom Kenya Makes Changes with Orange

Kenya is the financial, communication, and transportation hub of Eastern and Central Africa. Its GDP growth was 5% in 2010, and this is expected to rise to 5.7% in 2011. Kenya’s area is 580,000km2, and its population is nearly 39 million.

Telkom Kenya, operating under the Orange brand, is the only integrated telecommunications solutions provider in Kenya. It offers mobile telephony services (using the GSM and CDMA platforms), fixed line services, and broadband Internet. 

At the end of 2010, Kenya had 24.969 million mobile subscribers and mobile phone penetration of 63.2%. The market was split between Safaricom (17.451 million subscribers), Airtel (3.792 million subscribers), Orange Teklom (2.134 million subscribers), and EssarTelecom (1.592 million subscribers). Safaricom competed neck-and-neck with Airtel for many years until the duopoly was ended by Essar Telecom and Telkom in 2007. Along with the split-up of the market, average voice tariffs across the industry have plummeted by more than 80% since Airtel entered and began slashing its tariffs in 2010.

Rapid Development

In 2007, Telekom Kenya-the government-owned fixed-line operator-was granted a mobile license by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to provide and operate mobile cellular services.

In March 2007, the Kenyan government announced a plan to privatize Telkom Kenya to make the operator more efficient and profitable. In November 2007, France Telecom bought a 51% stake in Telkom Kenya for USD 390 million.

Telkom Kenya launched CDMA2000 1X EV-DO service in July 2007, and at the end of 2007, the service had 200,000 subscribers. In September 2008, Telkom Kenya launched GSM services under the Orange brand, attracting 30,000 subscribers in the first month. In November 2010, CCK announced that Orange Telkom Kenya had been granted a 3G license. In March 2011, Orange Telkom Kenya awarded a HSPA+ 3G network rollout contract to ZTE.

In September 2011, Orange Telkom Kenya announced the launch of its 21Mbps HSPA+ network at a press event held in Nairobi. The new network was officially launched by the president of Kenya, H.E.Mwai Kibaki, at an event attended by key corporate and government officials.

Mickael Ghossein, CEO of Orange Telkom Kenya, said they intended to use the new network to make their company the undisputed market leader in mobile internet services. Orange Telekom will offer the most versatile and robust network to enhance customer experience. “The mobile phone has evolved from being a tool for basic voice and text communication to being a tool of convenience,” said Ghossein.

RAN Renewal Project

The RAN renewal project will see 682 Ericsson and ALU 2G sites replaced with ZTE SDRs. 820 new sites will be built over three years. 

“To help Orange Telkom Kenya satisfy the demand for reliable mobile application services, we provided them with world-class technologies and effective solutions with the lowest TCO in the industry,” said Xu Chengrong, CEO of ZTE Kenya.

ZTE used advanced dual PA for the swap-over and new site deployment. The dual PA technology allows for smooth evolution to HSPA+ and LTE without any changes to hardware.

Full use was also made of CAF/feeder resources to reduce equipment costs. MW cabinets were customized for outdoor sites, end-to-end mobile backhaul was integrated, and hotspot coverage was implemented.

Objective   

Orange Telkom Kenya’s objective is to be the market leader in mobile Internet. The 3G network rollout will help Telkom Kenya double its number of subscribers by the end of 2011 and secure number two position in the Kenyan mobile market by 2015.

The new network has enhanced the competitiveness of Telekom Kenya and has generated a new revenue stream for the company. “This network is the platform with which we will provide fast and reliable Internet speeds of up to 21Mbps. Our high-definition voice and other features are designed to meet the dynamic needs of our customers now and into the future”, said Orange Telkom Kenya chairman Eddy Njoroge.

The 3G network puts Telkom Kenya on par with some of the best operators in the world. Orange Telkom Kenya is becoming more effective, more productive and more customer-oriented.