Why Kenya’s 5G roll-out plans by 2019 may be too early

Kenya’s communications authority chief has said that the country is planning to roll-out 5G network in 2019.

According to him, the new technology will aid in the roll-out of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.

Yeah, these are the latest buzzwords, by the way.

While it sounds exciting, it is worthy of mention that at the moment, telcos in Kenya and by large, Africa are still struggling to deliver 3G and 4G network services to their customers.

Also, most of these telcos are yet to provide coverage to at least 70% of the region, country or province/state where they operate.

So rather than encourage telcos to pursue a “me-first” approach to adopting new technologies, communications regulators should focus on making these telecom operators improve the quality of their existing products and services.

Or isn’t that why they are called regulators?