The Kenyan government’s plans to roll out a national ‘open access’ Long Term Evolution (LTE) network have been thrown into disarray, Business Daily Africa reports, after Safaricom – the country’s largest cellco by subscribers – threatened to pull out of the tentative consortium over concerns regarding the spectrum band that the government plans to use. Nzioka Waita, Safaricom’s corporate affairs director, has warned that it will not participate in the project if the government insists on the use of 2.6GHz spectrum, as opposed to its favoured 700MHz frequencies – which Safaricom says requires the deployment of fewer base transceiver stations (BTS). Waita has claimed that 2.6GHz spectrum covers a radius of just 400 metres, whereas 700MHz spectrum is capable of covering a distance of between 19.2km and 28.8km, necessitating fewer BTS.
More:
OVETEL Frequency fracas as Safaricom threatens to quit LTE consortium
No comments:
Post a Comment