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Kenya to continue working with Huawei on 5G roll-out, IT minister says
- ‘We cannot say we have had any challenges or questions about the security of the technology,’ Joe Mucheru says at launch of Safaricom’s 5G service in Nairobi
- Telecoms firm says that as well as partnering with Huawei it will use equipment made by Finnish company Nokia
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Kenya will continue to work with Huawei Technologies Co. on 5G, the country’s IT minister said on Friday, despite a US-led campaign to shut the Chinese firm out of global networks.
Speaking at the launch of Safaricom’s new superfast 5G service in Nairobi and towns across western Kenya, ICT Minister Joe Mucheru said the government had “vetted the networks built by companies such as Huawei and they met set standards”.
Safaricom, which is Kenya’s largest telecoms company and part-owned by British firm Vodafone, said it planned to increase its 5G coverage to more than 150 locations in nine towns over the next 12 months.
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Many of its systems, as well as those of other network operators in Kenya, were built by Huawei. Elsewhere in the world, notably the US and Britain, the Chinese tech giant has faced accusations its networks could be used for spying and were therefore a threat to national security.
“As a government we are aware of the questions about suppliers and technology, but some of them are more about politics than technology,” Mucheru said.
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“We have been working with these partners for a long time … and we cannot say we have had any challenges or questions about the security of the technology.”
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