State to share fibre optic project with private sector

Ministry of Information Communication and The Digital Economy, Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo during a press briefing at his office in Government Media Centre, Telposta Towers on March 28, 2023. PHOTO | KENNEDY AMUNGO | NMG   

By KABUI MWANGI More by this Author

The government will lay 52 percent of the proposed 100,000 kilometres of the

national fibre optic cable while the rest will be done by the private sector, ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has said.

Mr Owalo, who spoke at the opening of the 12th edition of the Connected Summit on Monday, said the input of the private sector in the government’s transformation agenda is imperative.

“When it comes to the 100,000 kilometres of the fibre optic cable, our proposition as the government is that we will do just 52 percent or 52,000 kilometres while we leave the rest to the private sector,” said Mr Owalo.

Read: US funds Sh3.7bn data hub to speed up Internet access

“We have already had meetings to discuss and agree on who rolls out what component of that fibre and we have come out of those meetings with resolutions as to the responsibility centres for rolling out the fibre, including the timelines, the targets and all that appertains to it.”

The CS further disclosed that the State is well on course to achieve the onboarding of 100 percent government services on the eCitizen portal ahead of the June deadline.

“The eCitizen platform that hitherto was in the hands of the private sector is now a fully-fledged government facility. When we took it over two months ago, we only had 350 services aboard. As of today, we have attained the threshold of 4,200 services aboard the system,” he said.

The June date is also the set target for the government to lay down an initial 5,000 kilometres of the fibre cable, with the full rollout of the 100,000 kilometres expected to stretch over the five-year term of President William Ruto.

Read: Kenya starts rollout of 25000 free Wi-Fi hotspots to markets

The project, first announced by President Ruto a month after he assumed office, falls under the infrastructure pillar of the country’s digital transformation agenda and is aimed at hastening internet connectivity across the country and making its access stable and reliable.

→ kmwangi@ke.nationmedia.com