The Communications Authority of Kenya has established the Universal Service Fund (USF) to improve communication connections in remote and hard-to-reach areas of the country.
The USF is projected to be completed in five years and will provide private sector partnerships to support mobile connectivity in these areas, according to Principal Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy Mr. Eric Kiraithe.
Speaking to KNA at a Kabarnet resort, Kiraithe said the sub-locations include Kaptuya, Nginyang East, Mugurin, Kulal, Akoret, and Kapedo North have been earmarked to benefit from mobile connectivity in the ongoing 2021 Phase II of the voice infrastructure connectivity project.
READ ALSO:
Kenyan Government and Civil Society Collaborate to Raise Awareness on Digitization
Orange and Vodafone Partner to Deploy Open RAN Network Sharing in Europe’s Rural Regions
Healthcare Payment Simplification in Ghana with the Launch of Dove Payments
“During the first phase of the implementation in 2016, we faced challenges leading to the delay in the completion of the projects in several areas, key among them being vandalism of the telecommunications infrastructure causing huge financial losses and, in effect, impacting the government efforts of ensuring that all Kenyans have access to ICT services,” Kiraithe said.
To address the challenges, the Authority has been engaging communities in beneficiary areas to interact with them, create awareness on the importance of the communications infrastructure, and the immense opportunities that have been brought by services and most importantly, ownership and security of the infrastructure, Kiraithe added.
The Authority has also supported public libraries in partnership with the Kenya National Library Service to transform them into e-resource centers by connecting them to the Internet and providing them with computers.
