Kenya Communication
Staying Informed In Kenya
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While in Kenya, we are always somewhat amazed with the Kenya communication system. Even in the remotest of areas, local villagers find themselves connected to each other mostly by cellphone, but also through newspapers, radio, and sometimes even by television.Cell PhonesLocal SIM cards and top-up cards are found almost everywhere, making it very affordable to 'stay in touch' for just pennies a call.
The two main network providers are "Safaricom", who covers the areas from Mombasa to Nairobi, as well as the southeastern part of the country. "Celtel" has coverage in the southwestern parts, around the coast and Mombasa.
TelephoneThe telephone offers a good quality of service. You can usually make direct international calls, and in some outlying rural areas they need to be operator assisted.
Public telephones are either coin or phone card operated. Phone cards are readily available from post offices or international call services in major towns.
The card operated phone booths are painted blue, while the coin operated ones are painted red. It's a good idea to have lots of small change for local calls.
The country code is 254. Follow this by 20 for Nairobi, 41 for Mombasa, and 51 for Nakuru, the more major cities.
InternetThere are internet cafes available in most major cities and hotels.
We even had one available to us in the little village of Garissa, which is in a pretty remote area about seven hours north east of Nairobi.
Postal ServicesThe postal service is another element of Kenya communication that also offers a fairly reliable service.
Post offices, run as "Telkom Kenya" - Kenya Posts & Telecommunications Corporation.
You can identify postal boxes by their red color, and stamps can be purchased at the post office, a stationers, and some souvenir shops and hotels.
Any parcels leaving Kenya have to be inspected first and then the parcel needs to be wrapped in brown paper and string at the post office itself.
The main post offices are open from Monday through to Friday, from 8am to 5pm, and on Saturday from 9am to noon.
Kenya NewspapersKenya has a good supply of newspapers, the following being ones published in English.
- "A Kenya News" (Nairobi, Mombasa)
- "Africa Science News Service" (Nairobi)
- "African Newsbreak"
- "The Daily Nation"
- "East African Standard"
- "Kenya Times"
- "The Standard"
- "Sub-Saharan Informer"
The main daily newspapers are the "Daily Nation", "The East African Standard", and "Kenya Times". The main publishing center is in the capital city of Nairobi.
More than other African countries, Kenya has many media resources. Two dominant print media companies are the "Nation Media Group" serving the East and Central Africa. "The Standard Group" is the other main source. Both companies have interests in broadcasting as well.
Kenya RadioThe most relied on Kenya communication for news is Kenya radio.
"KBC" - Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is state owned and has channels in both national languages of English and Swahili, as well as 15 other native languages.
The main music stations are "Metro FM", "Capital FM" and "Kiss FM".
A private station that operates in the Kikuyu language is "Radio Citizen", and "Inooro FM" broadcasts in the Luo language.
On the air in Kisumu, Mombasa, and Nairobi, are full time FM relays of the BBC World Service.
Kenya TelevisionSpeaking of Kenya communication would not be complete without mention of Kenya television.
Again, the "KBC" - Kenya Broadcasting Corporation - offers television channels in English and Swahili.
"Kenya Television Network" is operated by the "Standard Group" while NTV is operated by the "Nation Media Group" based in Nairobi.
Private channels include "Citizen TV" and "Family TV" based in Nairobi.
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