by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – PARTNERSHIPS between Kenya and stakeholders are transforming the East African country to a leading player on the continent as well as a globally-competitive and prosperous country.
During Huawei Eco-Connect Sub-Saharan Africa 2023, which recently took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, Kenya’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Secretary of Administration, Mohamed Jabane, delivered a keynote outlining his country’s digital transformation journey.
Among the partners are Huawei and the major national strategy is the Kenya Digital Highway Project.
It involves Kenya’s ICT Ministry and Huawei coming together to construct an ultra-broadband national backbone network and last-mile coverage.
This will help to address a number of problems, such as inadequate coverage by the original backbone network, damaged optical cables, lack of ring network protection in some areas and lack of access networks.
The ministry has also initiated the Digital Highway Project to guide the upgrade of ICT infrastructure.
The cooperation comprises three key parts, namely constructing a new national backbone network, providing last-mile coverage and delivering unified cloud-based services.
The national backbone network is key to building a fully connected digital nation. It serves as the bridge for cloudification, connecting services and terminals. Huawei’s CloudWAN solution uses NetEngine series routers to build fully connected, scalable, and smarter future networks for Kenya.
These routers possess cost-effective ultra-large bandwidth, super-reliable always-on services as well as simple and efficient operations and maintenance (O&M).
The National Optic Fiber Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) and Government Common Core Network (GCCN) projects are underway and will deliver an ultra-broadband national backbone network once completed.
The digital highway will connect numerous government offices, schools, hospitals, rural areas and more while services will be moved to the cloud for fast response.
Jabane further shed light on Kenya’s long-term development blueprint, pointing out that the country’s weak information industry environment and communication technology infrastructure have historically been bottlenecks that hinder both economic and commercial development.
By contrast, the country’s current national policy emphasises the importance of ICT infrastructure in achieving its development ambitions.
– CAJ News