Kenyan telco Safaricom has reportedly revamped its “5G for Businesses” offering with new packages aimed specifically at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that promise to support their digital transformation plans with faster and more reliable connectivity.
According to various media reports, the upgraded service offers speeds five times higher than previous offerings, which Safaricom says will provide not only better connectivity, bus also a better customer experience, and an improvement in overall business operations.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said on Friday that the new 5G for Business offering will give SMEs more affordable access to enterprise-grade internet performance.
“This will empower them to enhance productivity, improve customer interactions, and scale operations efficiently in today’s increasingly connected marketplace,” Ndegwa said in a statement.
To sweeten the deal in terms of cost, Safaricom is also offering a 25% discount for all 5G plans for SMEs that sign up between now and the end of this month.
According to a June 2024 report from Safaricom and Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya), there are around 7.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya, although only 21% are licenced. Most of the unlicenced MSMEs are micro-sized businesses operating at the household level.
MSMEs also account for around 98% of all business, create 30% of jobs annually and contribute 40% to the country’s GDP, the Safaricom/FSD Kenya report said.
In October, Safaricom established a partnership with Cloudflare to reduce the costs of integrated cybersecurity services for MSMEs.
Safaricom launched 5G services in Kenya in October 2022. In August 2024, the telco revealed its 5G network was available in all 47 counties in the country, although it only covered 14% of the population.