Safaricom has officially announced the availability of 5G Wi-Fi in the country, offering an alternative to its already existing options: Safaricom Home Fibre (with Fibre Internet for Business being the enterprise alternative), its fixed (wired) data option and Safaricom 4G for Home, a similar service to the 5G Wi-Fi being launched but on the 4G network.
The 5G Wi-Fi service rides on the company’s 5G network, which has been live for public usage on a trial basis since March last year in several areas across the country.
Currently, Safaricom’s 5G network is available in the urban areas of at least 5 counties (Nairobi, Kakamega, Kisumu, Kisii and Mombasa) where the live 35 5G sites exist. There are plans to expand this coverage area to at least 200 sites by the time Safaricom’s 5G network marks its second anniversary next year.
“Customers in 5G-ready zones can access 5G Wi-Fi by purchasing a 5G router at Kshs 25,000 plus a setup fee of Kshs 5,000 and selecting from three packages on offer,” reads a statement from the network operator.
“Customers will also have the option of signing up for a 36-month contract that will enable them to receive the router for free.”
“The introductory 5G Wi-Fi plans include: 10Mbps with a usage limit of 300GB at Kshs 3,499; 40Mbps with a usage limit of 500GB at Kshs 5,999; and 100Mbps with a usage limit of 1TB at Kshs 14,999. Customers will be able to continue using the internet at throttled speeds upon depletion of the allocated usage limit.”
The 5G Wi-Fi will also be accessible on supported 5G smartphones. Supported devices include those from Samsung, Huawei and Oppo. It is worth noting that those are not the only mobile device brands in the country that have 5G-ready devices but, rather, those are the ones that Safaricom has directly confirmed the accessibility of its 5G Wi-Fi – and, by extension, its entire 5G network – on. We’ll wait to hear how the same fares on Infinix, Tecno, Nokia, Xiaomi and Vivo 5G smartphones.
Even then, there is a catch for those using the aforementioned Samsung devices: they will have to wait for a software update from Samsung by year’s end to enable them to access the 5G network. The same applies to people we don’t focus a lot on: iPhone users.
“Plans are also underway to provide 5G data packages for mobile internet customers and leverage the Lipa Mdogo Mdogo device-financing solution to avail more affordable 5G smartphones,” says Safaricom.
