Safaricom will soon be providing fixed line services and managed network services to business in the country. These are some of the services the firm is looking to offer through its "Smart Cities" program, which has seen Huawei and Ericsson contracted for the first phase covering 600 kilometres in Nairobi. The 600 kilometres excludes fibre connections to buildings. Safaricom plans to spend KSh. 10 billion ($11 million) on the fibre project.

Sylvia Mulinge, General Manager, Safaricom Enterprise Business unit says that the firm will offer voice services on the 020 prefix, Internet connectivity and manage networks for businesses with connectivity to various branches. Network management will also include hosting of applications such as ERP solutions.

Ross Thomasson, regional director, Africa for Vodafone Global Enterprise says," Most multinationals do not want to buy infrastructure, they want to eliminate capital expenditure and buy operational expenditure."

Mulinge also said that Safaricom would be launching hosted payroll and accounting packages soon as part of Safaricom Business offerings.

Dennis Mbuvi

Dennis Mbuvi has been writing at CIO East Africa Magazine and CIO.co.ke since May 2010. His key focus is the use of technology to solve day to day business challenges and product reviews. Mbuvi has been invited to speak at various IT, Telecom and Media events in the region. He was also a keynote speaker at the inaugural Joomla day in Kenya talking on possibilities of the Joomla Content Management System. Mbuvi holds a B.Sc in Computer Science degree from Kenyatta University. He is on Twitter as @denniskioko