Safaricom has today unveiled what they’re calling commercial 5G. This comes over a year after the company opened 5G trials across parts of the country. The solution the company is offering is fixed WiFi for the home and for businesses. This will be accessed through routers which the company will be selling.
What Safaricom is going for with 5G WiFi is similar to what they’ve been running for a while now as “4G for Home and Businesses”. The difference now is that instead of using the now-quite-limited 4G spectrum, they will be using 5G bands.
Prices for Safaricom’s 5G WiFi Packages:
| PACKAGE | SPEED | PRICES IN KES, MONTHLY | FAIR USAGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 10Mbps | 3,499 | 300GB |
| Standard | 40Mbps | 5,999 | 500GB |
| Extra | 100Mbps | 14,999 | 1,000GB |
For such a shift, there’s the requirement of new hardware. That’s why Safaricom will be selling you a router at KES 25,000. These routers access 5G networks and share it to your devices as WiFi. We are not yet sure what WiFi standards are supported. Hopefully WiFi 6 and WiFi 6e are supported on the routers, especially at the asking price.
If you don’t want to pay the one-off KES 25,000 fee, there’s the option for a 36-month contract where the router will be provided for free. You will need to be credit vetted for this. Safaricom hasn’t as yet made public details on how this will be done.
