- Kenya's State Department for ICT and the Digital Economy received the Smart Gigacity Excellence Award at the WBBA Broadband Excellence Awards 2026 in Vienna
- Konza Technopolis was recognised as a global model for gigabit-enabled urban development, powered by AI infrastructure and cloud computing
- Kenya's ambassador in Vienna accepted the award on behalf of Principal Secretary Eng. John Tanui and the Government of Kenya
Kenya's Konza Technopolis has been named winner of the Smart Gigacity Excellence Award at the World Broadband Association (WBBA) Broadband Excellence Awards 2026, presented on Wednesday, October 14, at VIECON in Vienna, Austria.
Source: UGC
The State Department for ICT and the Digital Economy received the honour after Kenya's entry was shortlisted alongside submissions from telecommunications operators and government ministries across the world.
Ambassador Valerie Rugene, Deputy Head of Mission at the Kenya Embassy and Permanent Mission in Vienna, accepted the award on behalf of Principal Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy Eng. John Tanui, CBS, and the Government and people of Kenya.
What Is Konza Technopolis?
Commissioned in October 2025, Konza City is Kenya's Vision 2030 flagship project and is billed as Africa's first smart city built on AI-powered infrastructure and cloud computing.
The Technopolis Development Authority (TDA) developed the city as a replicable model for gigabit-enabled urban development, combining high-capacity connectivity, artificial intelligence, and digital public infrastructure to deliver services to residents and businesses.
At the core of the city's connectivity is a 79-kilometre fibre backbone linking businesses, institutions, and homes. A network of 141 smart poles fitted with CCTV cameras and environmental sensors feeds an Intelligent Operations Centre that monitors 600 cameras and 12 Intelligent Transportation System sites under unified AI command.
The centre functions as a live digital twin of the city, enabling operators to anticipate congestion, outages, and incidents in real time.
Konza's infrastructure also includes an automated underground waste-collection system, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa, moving 40 tonnes of waste daily through 14.8 kilometres of pipeline.
Its wastewater reclamation facility recycles up to 90% of treated water, and a 120MW smart substation supplies the city at 99.9% reliability.
The Konza National Data Centre, a Uptime Institute Tier III certified facility, hosts over 100 public and private institutions.
Kenya's Message to the World
Accepting the award, Rugene conveyed the Principal Secretary's appreciation to the WBBA judging panel and acknowledged the leadership of President William Ruto, Cabinet Secretary for ICT Hon. William Kabogo Gitau, EGH, the TDA, and the engineers and innovators behind the project.
"Kenya accepts this honour not as the completion of Konza's journey, but as a call to accelerate it and to share a practical, replicable model with cities across Africa," she said, inviting global partners to join Kenya in building cities that are intelligent, sustainable, inclusive and human-centred.
The government says the recognition strengthens Kenya's standing as a destination for technology investment and data centre capacity.
The next phase of the Intelligent Operations Centre is already being advanced, alongside a public-private partnership cloud expansion intended to bring more than 300 additional public institutions onto the Konza platform.
Source: TUKO.co.ke