Integrated communication company, Access Kenya announced that it has completed phase one of its network upgrade that has encompassed Nairobi, Nakuru and Thika.

According to the firm the upgrade will offer businesses a stable and faster internet service through wireless and fibre connections.

Access Kenya aims to capture 18 towns by 2016 with their network expansion that has cost them Kshs 300 million (US$25 million).

According to the latest statistics by the Communication Authority (CA) - Access Kenya has a market share of 10% of the fixed broadband market.

Meanwhile, Wananchi Telecom with the brand Zuku holds the top position with 48% market share.

“The number of enterprises and county-reliant businesses that need high speed connectivity and other related solutions has been on the rise and this has been exerting a strain on existing resources,” said Raymond Macharia, chief technical officer of Access Kenya.

“To meet this demand, we are deploying infrastructure to widen our network footprint as well as increase the bandwidth to reach more corporate customers with reliable connectivity,” Macharia explained.

Other services that will be entrenched in the upgrade include CCTV monitoring, video-on-demand, data backup service and VoIP.

"We have also ensured that the new hardware can now handle these additional demands in data rates of up to 100 Gigabits per second", added Raymond.

The company also announced they will be increasing the number of nodes in their infrastructure to increase their reach and resilience. This will be completed at the end of this year.