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Safaricom’s home internet data consumption has grown by 70 per cent, while mobile data usage has recorded a 35 per cent increase. Nearly a month after Kenya reported the first Coronavirus case. The surge in internet usage follows the government’s directive to work from home to flatting the COVID-19 spread curve.
Digital services have become the order of the day as most customers are turning online to access shopping food, access services, and more.
“As our support to the Government’s directive for people to work from home, We doubled our bandwidth. Customers are accessing high-speed internet connectivity at half the normal price. Which has seen double-digit growth in data volumes, demonstrating that more Kenyans are indeed studying, working, and connecting with their loved ones from home,” said Peter Ndegwa Safaricom CEO.
Data from Safaricom reveals that traffic on movie-streaming channel Netflix has grown fourfold, from 15Gbps to 60 Gbps. The equivalent of 20,000 movies streaming at the same second. Facebook has also recorded most visits in the period.
Safaricom has laid out more than 6,700 kilometers of fiber, reaching more than 300,000 homes. With an additional 5,300 mobile internet base stations delivering 3G and 4G cellular networks.
“The investment in improving, extending, and modernizing the network over the years is paying off. We can carry the traffic and ensure that Kenyans remain connected through this period and beyond,” said Ndegwa. “We have been able to deliver a quality experience on the fixed internet bandwidth in order to facilitate individuals to work from home. Learners are also enjoying free access to educational content on mobile internet. In contrast, university students get concessional rates to facilitate continuous virtual learning in collaboration with learning institutions,” added Mr. Ndegwa.
