President William Ruto's administration intends to set up approximately 5,000 free public WiFi hotspots across the country in 2023 in a bid to promote a digitally driven economy that leverages technology.
This is according to ICT Cabinet Secretary Edwin Owalo who says that the Ruto administration will roll out 25,000 such centres by 2027.
According to the CS, the government will collaborate with Google and local telco providers to commission the hotspots.
Speaking on Citizen TV's NewsNight show on Tuesday, Owalo told show host Waihiga Mwaura that the State had so far launched 17 public hotspot centres across the country, targeting local businesses and underserved communities, but that the number would increase significantly by the end of the year.
"So far we have done 17 hotspots, in Nairobi we have done City Market and Muthurwa. We have also launched others in Nyeri, Bondo and Ahero. Tomorrow morning I will launch a free Wi-FI hotspot in Kapsabet and in the afternoon I will launch another in Kericho," said the CS.
"The move is part of the digital infrastructure initiative that we are putting in place. It targets people in markets, schools and those engaged within various value chains within the economy. The purpose is to enable Kenyans to get involved in e-commerce so that we don't have physical movement of individuals to transact," said the CS.
According to Owalo, the WiFi programmes will help address inequity for marginalised communities that can't meet the high cost of data by creating numerous job opportunities that local youth can capitalise on.
"We can create a minimum of 1.5-2 million digital jobs if we leverage on the technology. We monitor the activities based on the launch of the hotspots. One thing we have realised is that we have moved the youth idling near bus stops to close proximity of the free WiFi hotspots. We want to leverage technology for purposes of digital jobs for our youth," said the CS.
