The benefits of using ICT in education are very significant and are now more than ever quickly being acknowledged. In realization of this, education and research institutions are employing the Internet as a learning tool. As a National, Research and Education Network (NREN), KENET seeks to enhance education and research by ensuring such institutions are connected to affordable, cost-effective and low-congestion Internet bandwidth.

In a recent project, KENET upgraded Internet speeds for Taita Taveta University on October 4th, 2017. KENET in conjunction with the ICT Board activated a fiber link to the University, enabling the institution to access increased bandwidth of up to 1GB. The links activated constituted of a National Optic Fibre Backbone (NOFBI) segment between the University and Telkom's Telephone House at Voi, and a leased line service to Nairobi provided by Liquid Telecom.

The NOFBI project was initiated by the Kenyan Government in 2015 through the ICT Board with the aim of connecting all 47 Counties in Kenya to enhance service delivery and ease communication. KENET is utilizing the cable, alongside its own fibre to provide Internet access to research and education institutions in the Country. So far, KENET has connected over 100 Universities, Colleges and Research Institutions nationwide.

Jeremiah Kioko, a Network Engineer from KENET who activated the link with Evans Ng’ang’a, an Assistant Network Engineer describes the gratitude the University had. “Once the links were activated and the University was achieving the fast internet capacity they had subscribed to, the the ICT Director, Mr. Kibwana Zamani was very elated,” recalls Jeremiah. The increased capacity will enable Taita Taveta University to have a better experience when accessing KENET services such as Disaster Recovery.