Schools Connect

As part of its Shared Access to Data initiative, the Development Fund is also bringing the benefits of mobile communications to the education sector. The Development Fund's first pilot project in this area involves providing Internet connectivity to five Kenyan secondary schools in partnership with Safaricom Ltd.

Issue

Kenya has limited data connectivity. With under 300,000 landlines, and little likelihood of significant expansion in the short to medium term, fixed line ADSL or dialup technology cannot come close to meeting the country's data needs.

Mobile operator Safaricom's national network is 100% data enabled, using either GPRS or EDGE technology. EDGE is now rolled out at 300 cell sites and Safaricom are committed to transferring their entire network over to EDGE. In light of this, Safaricom's wireless data offering has real potential to become a mass-market technology for data provision.

Overview

The Development Fund is working with NGO Computers For Schools Kenya (CFSK) and Safaricom to provide Internet connectivity to five schools in Nairobi and another major city. Each school will have twenty workstations connected to the Internet using GSM-based EDGE technology.

Safaricom has an existing relationship with CFSK, an NGO that provides computer terminals and IT training and support to schools throughout Kenya. The Safaricom Foundation is contributing financially to the installation of computers.

All three project partners, as well as the Government of Kenya, will be closely monitoring the commercial and technical success of the pilot project to assess the potential of rolling out the solution to all schools nationwide.