Kenya's Safaricom is expected to start LTE trial within next two months. The roll out will be carried out by Huawei Technologies.

The two companies signed a three year strategic partnership under which Safaricom selected Huawei as its vendor of choice for the supply of its core network requirements, and roll out the 4G network.

Speaking during the signing ceremony held at Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen China, Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Michael Joseph said the company was also keen to overhaul its billing system, core network and expand its 3G network coverage throughout the country.

“We are going to do a technical LTE trial on our spectrum to see if it suits the Kenyan market and its commercial viability. This is completely a technical trial and not a commercial trial and we are going to do the trials within our spectrum in the next two months.”

The upgrades are expected to begin in the next six months and will be done in two phases.