University students and Staff to acquire quality laptops to boost e-Education

Students and staff at one of Kenya’s main public universities can now acquire genuine and quality laptops at affordable rates.

This follows the signing of a partnership between Kenya’s leading telecoms operator Safaricom, Equity Bank and Kenyatta University. The partnership will see Equity Bank provide financing to KU staff and students to enable them buy laptops and modems from Safaricom Retail Centres all over the country. Interested KU staff and students will be able to select their laptop of choice from Safaricom Retail Centres based on their needs and apply for financing from any Equity Bank branch. Once this is approved, the customers will be notified to collect their laptops from the Safaricom outlets.

Safaricom is riding on this partnership, among others, as it actively seeks to deepen data penetration and utilization of capacity on its network, while narrowing the digital divide in the country. The collaboration comes at a time when the country’s ICT sector is poised for exponential growth following the landing and activation of TEAMS and Seacom undersea cables and unprecedented investment in intra-country infrastructure. Safaricom is a key player in this evolution, being an anchor shareholder in TEAMS and buyer of substantial capacity on Seacom, among others.

Speaking during the signing ceremony at Kenyatta University Grounds, Equity Bank CEO Dr James Mwangi said the deal would enable the university to become more efficient and effective since increased internet usage would support research development which is critical for socio-economic development of the country.

“I am challenging the academic fraternity to take advantage of the arrival of the submarine fibre optic cables to spearhead innovation in ICT and create more employment opportunities for Kenyans entering the job market every year,” Dr Mwangi said.

Safaricom Chief Commercial Officer Peter Arina said the partnership was a viable way of improving access to internet-enabled devices and improving uptake in the market. “With this partnership, we are decisively tackling the problem of affordability, which has long bottled up data penetration and usage in Kenya. By partnering with a university, we are bringing the benefits of e-education to the Kenyan market-place,” said Mr Arina.

The arrival of international broadband capacity at the East Coast of Africa presents an opportunity for institution like Kenyatta University to begin integrating its learning process with the available hi-tech solutions that are currently available and are provided by Safaricom.