200,000 5G devices are active on Safaricom’s Network

Safaricom has today officially launched its 5G network in Kenya. The service is available in select areas in Kenya. The company said that availability and affordability of 5G devices is still an issue in Kenya.The company said that 4G penetration is also still an issue for a part of the population. The company has asked the Communication Authority of Kenya to use part of the Universal service fund to help bring down the cost of these devices. The Universal service fund has mostly been used to improve access to connectivity services but not for the devices including the handsets used to access these services. 

Before that happens, the company has also revealed that there are 200,000 5G devices active on its network.  5G devices have been in the market for a few years but I was not expecting the number to be this high. It is quite impressive for a network that has not been active in Kenya until now. 

Safaricom also revealed that at the moment there are about 35 areas where 5G stations are installed in the country but hopes to increase that number to 200 by March 2023. Most of these are in Nairobi as expected but we do have a good balance with other counties.

The biggest hurdle with 5G is the availability of supported devices as Safaricom only listed devices from OPPO, Huawei, Samsung as being the only ones supported at the moment. Some Samsung and iPhones should be supported after they do get the necessary updates. Some other devices not listed here seem to pick the network but I am not sure about the stability of such. We can assume they are ok unless we get any more information disputing that. 

Safaricom 5G availability

At the moment, Safaricom has installed 35 5G sites across the country and those are the locations where you can access its 5G network from if your device supports it. These are: