- CA Communications Officer Chiimbiru Gimode said plans have been set in motion to connect 12 more sub-locations in Marsabit County to mobile network connectivity under the Universal Service Fund after 10 were considered in the initial phase.
- The 12 are among 101 sub-locations targeted by the CA in the second phase of the project that seeks to avail availed mobile connectivity to areas that are remote and hard-to-reach across the country.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has announced plans to ensure 101 unserved and underserved sub-locations in 19 counties across Kenya get mobile connectivity.
The CA Communications Officer Chiimbiru Gimode said plans have been set in motion to connect the sub-locations under the Universal Service Fund (USF).
“The Communications Authority of Kenya has unveiled a second phase of mobile network connectivity which will see 101 unserved sub-locations covered,” Mr Gimode said.
He detailed that during Phase I of the implementation of the Universal Service Fund (USF), the Authority connected 884 public secondary schools across 47 Counties to high-speed Internet. Through the Education Broadband Connectivity Project, many schools were able to successfully integrate the Internet into learning. This significantly enhanced the learning experience by making it easier for teachers to explain concepts and in effect, improved performances for many schools.
On mobile connectivity, the Authority connected 78 Sub locations, covering 330,342 people spread across 15 counties in Kenya. In Marsabit County, 10 sub-locations were connected. The sub-locations include Kituruni, Songa, Karare, Elhadi, Balesa, Ndikir, Ngurnit, Lonyari Pichau, Badasa, and Ilaut.
Another area that CA has supported is the public libraries in partnership with the Kenya National Library Service. This has led to the transformation of 56 libraries into e-resource centres by connecting them to the Internet and providing them with computers, thus greatly improving the usage of the libraries. CA supported the Kenya National Library in the Moyale sub-county.
In Marsabit County, 12 sub-locations have been earmarked to benefit from mobile connectivity in the ongoing Phase II of the voice infrastructure connectivity project, which will see residents enjoy the transformation brought about by mobile communications services.
Additionally, in the third phase of the mobile network connectivity project, the Lontolio sub-location has been earmarked for connectivity.
He spoke after holding engagement forums with Balesa, Kituruni, Karare Scheme, Songa, Elhadi, Ndikir, Ngurunit, and Lonyori Pechau sub-locations over the importance of the communications infrastructure and the opportunities that abound for residents in the beneficiary areas.
The engagements are meant to get feedback from the residents on the quality of services in already connected areas and additional connectivity challenges that need to be addressed by the CA in subsequent phases.
Gimode observed that during the implementation of Phase I of the mobile connectivity project in the last five years, CA faced several challenges that led to delays in the completion of projects in several targeted areas.
Key among them was the vandalism of the telecommunications infrastructure resulting in huge financial losses and negatively impacting the Government’s efforts of ensuring that all Kenyans have access to ICT services.
There were challenges of lack of buy-in of the projects by the local communities as evidenced in resistance in some areas that has led to delays in the timely implementation of the projects.
To address the challenges, the Authority has been engaging communities to create awareness of the importance of the communications infrastructure and opportunities brought by services and most importantly, ownership and security of the infrastructure.
Gimode was happy that most of the areas that were connected in phase I were enjoying the immense transformative impact of mobile network connectivity in many areas.
Given many of the areas are remote and hard -to reach, and lack electricity, the Authority has ensured that going forward, the projects, most of which are solar-powered, come with charging points to enable the community to charge their mobile devices and save them the agony of travelling long distances to charge their phones.
In education, the Authority is supporting the digitization of education content in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
This will see such content made available on a portal that can be accessed by all learners across the country without the need for the Internet or data.
Students, including those in remote and marginalized areas, like the far-flung areas of Marsabit County, will be able to access the same high-quality educational content.
The Authority also plans to support connectivity to health centres, enabling easy exchange of information and expertise among hospitals.
Other areas of interest are in agriculture and empowering communities to acquire digital skills, the establishment of ICT innovation hubs in various communities to promote local content development and enable them to participate actively in national development and the global digital economy
In Marsabit poor wireless network signal strength has been making communication and surfing the Internet, and content downloading a frustrating experience.
In remote schools in the Laisamis sub-county such as Ndikir Primary School, teachers go through the daily grind of walking 7 kilometres to the top of nearby hills to make phone calls or send electronic mail.
Ndikir Primary School Headteacher Meshack Lebarakwe narrated how arduous it was for them to register KCPE candidates online due to poor internet connectivity.
He added that they were forced to climb the hills or travel for almost 30 kilometres to Laisamis town to download the formative School Based Assessments (SBA).
“The failure of cellular companies to ensure quality mobile networks and Internet services had consequently been taking a serious toll on learning, trade, and even security operations in these regions,” Mr Lebarakwe said.
The COVID-19 pandemic also immensely knocked down education in those remote areas as learners were unable to catch up with online studies like their urban counterparts.
Similar predicaments were faced by even the parents most of whom are pastoralists according to the Ndikir Primary School Board Chairperson Benjamin Galhaile.
Parents had to walk to school to make any inquiries about their children or education requirements, something that could be simply done through phone calls.
The residents also faced immense problems in carrying out mobile money transactions such as MPesa.
He said that they had been contacting telecom operators to resolve their issues in vain.
Similar outcries have for a long time been replicated in most areas across the county.