INTERNET PRICE WAR ON THE HORIZON IN KENYA WITH KENYA DATA NETWORK TAKING THE LEAD

By JEVANS NYABIAGE,
October 22 2009

Data carrier firm, Kenya Data Networks, has opened a new round of price wars by increasing its bandwidth by four times at the normal price, as competition in the telecommunication industry tightens.

“This new development means that if a client is currently receiving 1Mbps, he will now receive 4 Mbps. It also means users will pay for 1Mbps while the other 3 Mbps will be offered free of charge,” said KDN chief executive officer, Mr Kai Wulff.

Bandwidth represents the amount of data a network can transport in a certain period of time. Due to dependence on the internet, there’s an ever growing need for increased bandwidth and more capacity on the networks, especially for individual home owners and business organisations, which ISPs cannot provide.
Increasing bandwidth rather than reducing prices is an option many internet service providers have gone for.

Doubled

Access Kenya Group is on record to have doubled its bandwidth for the normal price.
The issue of pricing of bandwidth has been a bitter debate in the industry, with most ISPs arguing that they have to recoup their investments before reducing prices.

KDN has in the past slashed internet costs by 90 per cent on wholesale prices, from the current industry average of $4,000 per one megabyte to $400 per megabyte.
“We are able to deliver the same – if not better — affordable telecommunications advances enjoyed by most countries in the developed world.

The demand for increased bandwidth is being driven by our customers who have started to embrace the broadband culture and butterfly lifestyle,” Mr Wulff told journalists on Thursday. The firm says the new broadband capacity will cater for the rapidly growing demand for international high-speed connectivity and will ensure efficiency and increased content as well as redundancy of client operations.

The increased capacity is being done in anticipation of uptake from customers and enterprises with new and innovative services from KDN to be unveiled soon.