Safaricom Launches 5G Services in Five Cities

Following the lead of SA and a handful of other African countries, Safaricom has switched on 5G services in 5 Kenyan cities. 5G provides  data speeds 10 times faster than a 4G connection. For example, if conditions are right, then a whole movie can be downloaded in 10 seconds. The opening up of 5G is expected to boost the country’s digital economy – ecommerce and the ICT sector in general – which is enjoying a boom in growth. To take advantage of 5G, customers will either have to buy a 5G router costing around $250 or invest in a 5G-ready handset. Both options also come with higher data costs. SA, Nigeria, Botswana and Zimbabwe are some of the countries on the continent to have already rolled out 5G. However, the take-up of 4G is still low in Africa – accounting for just about 25% of total connections compared to a global average of 60%, according to research by the GSMA.