As the trade war between China and US rages on, Kenya will be thrust in the mix as Safaricom launches 5G service powered by Huawei this year and at the same time GoK is negotiating for free trade agreement with the US.
The UK was forced to abandon Huawei's 5G equipment on ground of "national security".
Kenya backs Safaricom in US, Huawei 5G fight
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“I have not seen any letter or document about stopping the project and we cannot stop even if we are asked to do so. We are an independent country,” Mr Mucheru told the Business Daily in the sidelines of a digital police occurrence book launch in Nairobi.
“Again, the government does not deal with vendors. It’s the service providers who will decide who to work with”.
The US has been urging its European allies and others not to use Huawei, one of Safaricom’s network vendors along with Nokia, citing security concerns.
Involving Huawei in Safaricom’s 5G network could emerge in talks on a free trade agreement between the US and Kenya, analysts said.
For Safaricom, the 5G service is a central part of its attempts to further expand its data business to counter slower growth in voice calls revenue.