Supporting Expansion of an ISP in Rural Kenya

An ISP in rural Kenya is using fixed wireless technologies that leverage license-exempt (or “lightly” licensed) 5 GHz spectrum, This organization’s goal is to provide cost-effective coverage to rural and dispersed communities previously unserved by other providers. Its services include fixed wireless connectivity to residences and businesses. 

Vernonburg Group to supporting these efforts by leading several components of a feasibility study funded by the US Trade and Development Agency to assess how this ISP could sustainably expand across East Africa. Vernonburg Group advised the ISP on tools for operational optimization and environmental and social impact assessment, among other areas. 

As their network continues to expand, it is imperative for both the executive team and operational staff of this ISP to monitor their network across various metrics. Vernonburg Group worked with the company’s leaders to define what data they need for decision-making and design an actionable dashboard to visualize it. By ingesting raw data from their network management system and visualizing it into a Power BI dashboard, the ISP can now easily visualize their network trends by tower and device to identify areas of concern or opportunity. 

Vernonburg Group’s involvement led to the development of an in-house network monitoring dashboard (NMS), along with robust social and environmental research. Both of these areas will set the stage for further growth and scale of the network as this ISP looks to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and above all continue to drive impact in the communities that it serves.