Airtel Kenya may finally launch its 3G services before the end of this quarter, a year after it first announced the plan. The company postponed the commercial roll-out of the high-speed network throughout last year without much explanations. Shivan Bhargava, Airtel Kenya chief operating officer yesterday said the 3G will go live in the first quarter. "We will continue to offer more innovative products and services including the increased depth of Airtel money and the introduction of our world class 3G HSPA this Quarter," he said in an email response.
Both Airtel and Orange got the 3G spectrum licenses towards the end of 2010.Orange rolled out its services in August 2011, beating Airtel which was expected to do it earlier. In October , the Airtel 3G network went live in Nairobi during testing but soon disappeared with no explanation. “Airtel has introduced major innovative business model changes in the last year. Our Networks and IT platforms are positioning themselves for stability and excellent quality,”said Bhargava.
In March 2011, Airtel signed a deal with Kenya Data Network to upgrade its transmission network ahead of the planned 3G launch, which was to be in April. Orange and Airtel got their 3G licenses at a reduced price of Sh750 million , lower than the $25 million (about Sh2 billion) that Safaricom had paid in 2007. This was after intense lobbying by the two who argued the need to create fair competition in the market. By September, Airtel had 8.49 per cent of the internet subscriptions and addition of 3G services to its menu could see it net higher. Safaricom has 79.45 per cent of the subscriptions while Telkom has 2.15 per cent.
