Telkom Kenya Modernizes Telephone and Data Network

At the launch of Telkom Kenya, its Managing Director, Augustine Cheserem, pledged to modernize the telecom's network "using proven technologies that provide state-of-the-art services that the market demands." And the Minister for Transportation and Communications appealed to Telkom Kenya to provide telecommunications services to rural areas where 80% of Kenyans live.

Less than a year later, Telkom Kenya is achieving these goals – expanding its network to regions it could not reach before and modernizing its services – using equipment from RAD Data Communications. RAD was awarded the $2 million contract to provide all access equipment for the new network, from the backbone to the Last Mile. The telecom's backbone is based on Newbridge equipment, but "Telkom Kenya chose RAD because of its superior access technology," says Paul Makobi of Adwest Communications, the systems integrator and local RAD distributor.

"We are satisfied with the RAD equipment. RAD has provided us with a turnkey solution tailored to our specific needs," says Clement Wasanga of Telkom Kenya Data Services. "RAD offers a longer Last Mile than other vendors, and its equipment withstands the power fluctuations and interruptions that we experience in Kenya. The RAD equipment comes up very quickly after a power interruption," he adds. "Another big advantage of RAD equipment is that it optimizes our lines. The equipment is modular, so we can just add more cards to increase bandwidth without adding physical links. RAD lets us offer more services in the future over the same infrastructure," Wasanga states.


The first applications of Telkom Kenya's new services will be an integrated voice and data network for the Department of Defense and additional lines at rates of up to 2 Mbps for ISPs. ISPs will also benefit from the ADPCM capabilities of the Megaplex equipment for compressing two voice channels into one timeslot over dial-up modem lines.

"RAD has given us tremendous support," says Wasanga, "including on-site presentations and training. They have also sent products for our evaluation at a customer site." The pilot project was conducted at SITA, the world's leading provider of global telecommunications and information solutions to the air transport industry. It consisted of LRS-24 modem racks and ASMi-50 modems to deliver the urgently required voice and data services between SITA offices spread throughout the East African country. Telkom Kenya closed the deal with RAD upon successful completion of the SITA pilot.

RAD's DXC multiservice access node with HDSL and a high speed card will offer access over Telkom Kenya's copper infrastructure at speeds of up to 2 Mbps. Megaplex-2200 and Megaplex-2100 E1/T1 multiplexers provide a classic channel bank solution for voice and data. High speed data transfer across the Last Mile to the customer premises will be provided by RAD's LRS-24 link access racks with ASMi-50, HTU-2 and HTU-E1 modems. All products are managed by the RADview HP OpenView central management platform.