Japan Just Rolled Out 10Gbps Internet Speeds Priced At About Ksh 5500 A Month
The state of fixed broadband in Kenya is still wanting – penetration is little and in areas served, outages and slow speeds form the order of the day. And it’s not just about the service; the prices are high as well. But leave our problems aside, and let’s borrow some notes elsewhere.
In other places, consumers are getting the real deal. Case in the study, Japan. In Japan, two of the country’s carriers, NTT East and NTT West, have recently bumped up their data speeds on existing plans up to 10 Gbps (10,000 Mbps) – both upstream and downstream. With such speed, blazing-fast seems like an understatement for sure. The cool thing about the whole issue? The price.
To get those blazing-fast speeds of up to 10Gbps, customers will only have to pay $55, an equivalent of about Ksh 5500. In Kenya, that will get way fewer internet speeds. On Zuku and JTL Faiba, for example, you will get around 30Mbps. Safaricom is even more expensive, offering up to 20Mbps around that price. Of course, the 10Gbps speed is a theoretical maximum value, real-world speeds will be about 10% lower than the maximum value, says the company.
The harmonization of broadband speeds in Japan has been fueled by the growing need for 4K and 8K video, as well as the proliferation of virtual reality technology.
The new broadband doesn’t cover many cities, however. They are only available in some select parts, and a compatible WIFI router is needed, which can be purchased individually or obtained from the carrier at an additional fee of about $4.48 monthly.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.
