Innovations in science and technology have allowed our Kenyan telecommunications industry to expand services, reduce prices, and grow to meet the ever increasing demands from other sectors—sectors that increasingly rely on telecommunications to help them work efficiently while reducing their energy consumption. The current worldwide focus to reduce energy consumption and ecological impacts is adding another dimension to the business cases for new network technology, implementation of energy-saving systems, and installation of green alternative power solutions. All these requires a plan based on network architectures, service offerings, customer base, and geographic location. This is a challenging, multi-dimensional planning process that I personally am very eager to take up as an engineer and give solutions to help my fellow Kenyans and the entire country at large. Planning an efficient, eco-sustainable telecommunications network while meeting corporate financial and business goals is a challenging problem. While networks are naturally evolving more so in east Africa to become more efficient, this am afraid will take years to occur(note as a country, we have made bigger strides on the evolution of our networks as per CAK 2017 report). With the current high energy costs and government and consumer interest in greener technology, proactively reducing energy consumption and adding alternative, eco-friendly power sources often result in a better business plan, both short term and long term. Deciding on specific energy reduction initiatives and determining the viability of alternative power options that meet network operator business goals require a complex, multidimensional analysis that I should clearly state forthright that SafaricomPLC has already identified these fields and has started off tapping into giving solutions aligned together with the Paris agreement as well as the 2015 SDGs.

My personal goal: I want and will come up with a solution(s) to help Kenyan network operators’ work through the maze of conflicting requirements and options to identify eco-friendly solutions that meet the financial and business goals while reducing the ecological impacts.

Written and complied by: Samwel Kariuki