Airtel Upgrades Some Sites to 5G as its Battle with Safaricom Intensifies

Airtel Kenya is now the second telco giant, after Safaricom to announce the upgrade of its network services to the fifth-generation (5G) network. Airtel Kenya Managing Director, Prasanta Das Sarma, stated that over 600 sites in Kenya have been upgraded to the network. These sites are located in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi. He adds that they ‘do not need to make any further modifications.’

“We will just get the spectrum and decide when to switch it on”, said M.D Prasanta Das Sarma.

Airtel however stated that it is not in a hurry to switch on the network and cited one reason to be the high costs of the handset that come with the 5G network system. MD Prasanta Das Sarma also added that the switch can happen in one or two years however if an opportunity to switch comes before then, the telco giant is ready.

“The 5G handsets right now are obviously very costly and are seeing few buys. We feel that a reasonable price will start coming in one and a half years. That is the time we feel we will be able to switch on our 5G network”, he added.

Just like Safaricom, the network is still currently not in the reach of the general public until stated. Airtel’s partnership with Nokia that was announced back in December 2020 has helped to upgrade the telco networking services to 5G.

Airtel Kenya will however be looking to connect to the network faster and soon to be able to ease the network congestion in their systems which is expected to result in generating more profits.

By Joy Ngoiri