Telkom Kenya is currently preparing its connection to the Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine fiber optic cable to further strengthen its capabilities in this area, noting that the company is planning to have the whole operation completed by the end of 2021.
The connection will be the sixth system to which Telkom Kenya is connected to and it will enable the operator to acquire new data capacity and the PEACE cable.
Telkom Kenya CEO, Mugo Kibati, said in a statement that Telkom's terrestrial fiber network is unlike any other, "This is why we have defined our own strategy to grow and transform Telkom into a technology company. We are aware that the ecosystem does not only include our local competitors, competitors from all over the world will enter the market and we have to be ready for that," he said.
Telkom Kenya expects the project to be concluded by end of 2021 and the cable has key landing points in France, Pakistan and Kenya, with plans to extend to South Africa in its second phase. Chen Zhongmin, technical director of PEACE Cable International Network, said that the PEACE cable system will soon enter its final deployment phase.
According to the latest data from Kenya's telecom regulator, Telkom Kenya held only 6.2% of the mobile market share, 5.1% for the mobile data segment and 0.7% on fixed data. With its data capabilities from the PEACE cable, the company will have additional assets to attract new consumers and improve its position in the national telecom market.