Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, Safaricom, says it has launched the country’s first fibre to the room (FTTR) solution for home broadband networks in partnership with Chinese multinational corporation and technology company Huawei Technologies.
The new FTTR offering, announced early last week, extends fibre-level connectivity throughout the home, with each room equipped with its own optical access point. Safaricom said this ensures consistent speeds, near zero latency, and seamless coverage without dead zones or signal loss.
The FTTR solution also features AI-powered network monitoring and self-adjustment for intelligent optimization, and can be seamlessly integrated with existing smart home technologies.
Safaricom is pitching the service as a vast improvement over using a single router for Wi Fi distribution, which are increasingly insufficient to handle evolving user demands as users connect more devices to their home networks running high bandwidth apps like gaming and video calls.
“Today’s homes demand more than just connectivity; they require an always on digital ecosystem. “Through our partnership with Huawei, we are delivering a truly immersive connected home experience that meets the evolving needs of modern households,” said Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa, while announcing the launch.
The FTTR offering follows Safaricom’s announcement last week that it would more than double the speeds of most of its fibre broadband services, with the minimum fibre connectivity package upgraded from 5 Mbps to 15 Mbps, with no change in pricing.
The exceptions include its Diamond and Platinum packages, which remain at 500 Mbps and 1 Gbps respectively, as well as its Wi-Fi Bamba 5 Mbps service for affordable housing projects, which remains at 10 Mbps.
