Can 5G Restart Innovation in Kenya’s Technology Cities?

Isaac Clemons, Research Associate, African Political Economy Policy Lab¹
Iclemons@africacfsp.org

5G has tremendous potential for revolutionizing Kenya’s digital economy. One way that 5G could accomplish this is through modernizing tech cities. The Kenyan government has long envisioned creating cities that can attract big companies to create jobs locally. As 5G expands, there is renewed hope for tech cities. However, if the Kenyan government wants to maximize the power of 5G, it needs to focus on the local population, not tech cities.

Introduction

Technology has long been considered a tremendous aid to developing economies. In Africa, certain countries have quickly adopted new technologies in the hope that they will usher in an era of increased prosperity. One of the most innovative of these countries is Kenya. Kenya has tried, and to a large extent succeeded, to follow the South African model in embracing new technologies and welcoming the incredible revenue that technology brings. While some of these innovations have contributed to the betterment of Kenyan society, others have failed. The latest attempt is 5G.

Will 5G create innovation that improves Kenyan society? There are signs that it can. However, not all technological innovations in Kenya have been successful. One key example is the idea of the ‘Tech Hub.’ A tech hub is an economic zone that is created with the accommodations necessary to attract international tech firms to establish an office. This investment is supposed to create jobs for the host economy and spillover effects in the form of supportfor domestic technological innovation. The very first technology hub in Africa emerged in Konza, a city located 100 kilometers south of Nairobi.² Established in 2008, the city carried with it the promise of turning Kenya into a tech center for the global economy. Thirteen years later, the project has not lived up to what it promised.

Nonetheless, this entrepreneurial spirit has facilitated economic thriving in Kenya. Kenya’s tech ecosystem has been named the Silicon Savanah, a testament to its progress. Over 200 startups have found a home in Kenya’s growing tech landscape. Given this desire to embrace the newest technology, it is no surprise that Kenya adopted 5G technology in March of 2021. This piece will evaluate whether this new hyper-fast technology can ignite Kenya’s tech environment.

Understanding 5G

First, it is important to understand what exactly 5G is capable of compared to 4G or the most prevalent type of device in Kenya, 3G. In a word, 5G is faster. 5G is twice as fast as 4G; 5G thus has greater potential for real-time connectivity to internet updates.³ 5G is also wireless, even though its speed is comparable to wired internet connections. 5G can allow mobile devices to keep up with a wired computer. This means that the distinction between incredibly expensive and immobile devices and smaller, cheaper, more portable devices is slowly being erased.

Previously, tech cities relied on wired connections that gave startups the speed and reliability they needed to innovate. With 5G technology, it is possible to connect an entire city with far less infrastructure. It also equalizes access to the internet, ideally meaning that anyone with an idea has access to the technology that is needed to make that idea work.⁴ Given these advantages, combining tech cities with 5G seems like a natural technological development in Kenya.

The core of what makes 5G such an exciting technology for tech cities is its function in making all sorts of other technological innovations work. Without 5G, there could be no connected drones flying around to make deliveries, no remote healthcare sensors sending patient data to doctors anywhere around the globe, and no real-time, location-based information pushing. What has previously been seen as sci-fi now has the chance to become a reality because the network needed to support these ideas now exists.

The adoption of 5G technology is not the first time that Kenyans have embraced the power of technology. The Ushahidi app used crowd-sourced reports to map outbreaks of violence due to the inconclusive election of 2017.⁵ 5G would allow thousands of users to simultaneously report to a central server, like Ushahidi’s original model.

The Cases of Konza and Northlands

The case of Konza exemplifies the opportunity for 5G to revolutionize the idea of tech hubs. Originally, Konza was an agreement between the Kenyan government and wealthy international technology firms. The government would provide the necessary infrastructure while the firms would enter Kenya, construct buildings, and create job opportunities.⁶ Thirteen years ago, in 2008, this was only possible with wired internet connections. With the advent of 5G, the miles of cable necessary to complete such an ambitious infrastructure project is cut dramatically. Now, multiple buildings can connect to a single 5G tower. Thanks to the increased speed and available number of channels, significantly less infrastructure is required to connect a larger number of people.

This potential has not gone unnoticed. Huawei, a Chinese company and the largest proponent of expanding 5G technology to developing countries, has loaned billions of Kenyan Shillings to Konza.⁷ Already, independent journalists are drawing the connection between the potential 5G benefits and the scale of the tech city. Stephen Ndegwa, a Nairobi-based communications expert, claims that “Greater enabled 5G speeds will definitely lead to more efficient services and interoperability within networks.”⁸ 5G gives new potential to an old project.

The project has run into many hurdles and has not reached its employment goals. As it currently stands, Konza is a single building protruding out of the Kenyan savannah.⁹ Aside from those devised for the management and advertising of the city itself, it has not directly produced any new jobs for Kenya’s wider economy. This is not surprising given the history of the city.

Despite the project being announced in 2008, the city did not receive funding until 2013.¹⁰ Some logistical and bureaucratic hurdles that prevented the city from receiving the initial funding remain to a certain extent. As can be expected, the project is still a product of the government that created it. Early in the lifecycle of Konza, the project was marked by corruption. The original 5,000 acres of land needed for the tech city were alleged not to have been acquired in a competitive bidding process.¹¹ More recently, the Kenyan government has pivoted away from Konza. A competitor for the tech city has emerged in the form of Northlands city.

While not exactly a tech city, Northlands city is marketed as a city of the future, with plenty of housing space combined with a sizeable industrial park. It is worth investigating why Northlands was favorited over Konza. One explanation is that Northlands city is a personal project of the Kenyatta family whose members include Kenya’s current president, Uhuru Kenyatta.¹² In all fairness, Northlands city’s cost of 50 billion Kenyan Shillings is nothing compared to the 1.2 trillion that Konza is projected to cost. Yet, the choice to redirect funding to Northlands has been a hurdle to the success of Konza, not because of the money, but because of the shift in priorities.

Konza’s major problem has been the dwindling attention it receives in international and domestic media. As it was originally designed, 50% of Konza was funded by the Kenyan government and 50% by international investors. In order to inspire the investment necessary to keep up the momentum, Konza relied on the press. As the project dragged on, it lost all momentum.¹³

Conclusion: 5G and Tech Cities

Will 5G reignite the momentum that tech cities rely on? In the case of Konza, probably not. Konza’s problems began long before 5G was even in the conceptual phase. While the technology’s potential is enormous, the obstacles that hinder Konza are even greater. Tech cities rely on momentum and massive initial investment to succeed in a developing country. In the case of Konza, the momentum was meant to exist outside of Kenya’s borders, and the initial investment was delayed for years. This divorced the project from the population that it was meant to support as the project was sold to foreign firms without concern for the local population. Therefore, the project was doomed from the start. Konza was a massive government project with big dreams and little feasibility. It emphasized the role of government while ignoring the fact that strength in developing countries comes from the population itself. By minimizing the population’s role in its conception, Konza sealed its fate.

Yet, 5G is an equalizing force insofar as it gives incredible speed and reliability to everyone. Further, it leverages the creativity of all its users. Within the context of Kenya, it is likely to see success. Current trends in 5G reflect the desire to make the technology accessible to the majority of the population. Currently, all of the small 5G pockets in Kenya are in Nairobi.¹⁴ Clearly, the trend will move outward from these small beginnings. The idea is for 5G to be widely available to the population, not just to singular government projects. Unsurprisingly, there is no 5G coverage currently available in Konza.

What makes Konza’s story all the more uninspiring is Kenya’s success with technology in other forms. Startups have grown out of Kenya to embrace a space in the global market. Apps like M-pesa solve African problems in a way that makes it affordable and easy to use. M-pesa allows users to transfer and store money using a mobile phone. In Kenya, M-pesa has been credited with lifting 2% of Kenyan families out of poverty and it is used by 95% of the population.¹⁵ Innovations like M-pesa take advantage of the explosion of internet access Kenyans gained in 2009 with the introduction of a high-speed fiber optic cable.¹⁶ Kenyans have always been early adopters of technology. They find creative solutions to the problems that their country is facing.

In a country that has a culture around embracing technology like Kenya, there is no doubt that 5G will bring about a transformation. However, one aspect that won’t be transformed is the notion of tech cities. Despite the potential of 5G, the cities represent a development plan that ignored the strengths of the host nation in favor of attracting foreign direct investment from abroad. These money traps require the perfect storm to have the desired effect; they are tricky to get right. The failed experiment of Konza showcases the ineffective nature of tech cities. If African nations want to leverage 5G to bring about a technological revolution, they must focus on the equalizing power of 5G to bring whole populations into the 21^st century. Tech cities don’t work in our modern, mobile, digital age.

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