Safaricom this week claimed to be the first sub-Saharan operator to launch LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation (CA).

Referring to it as 4G, the Kenyan telco said its upgraded network has gone live in the capital Nairobi and the country's second-largest city, Mombasa. Safaricom plans to extend coverage to more major cities in the coming months.

According to local press reports, in November, Safaricom received additional spectrum in two separate frequency bands from the government for the purposes of rolling out an LTE network. The operator has deployed CA to aggregate the airwaves in order to offer a peak connection speed of 100 Mbps.

"Today's launch progresses our strategic push to democratise data. We believe in the transformative power of the Internet and are keen to deliver the most advanced technologies to our subscribers in order to remain the network of choice," said Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, in a statement on Thursday.

Safaricom has a range of LTE devices on offer, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Huawei Ascend P7 and a range of 4G modems. Next year, it plans to begin selling an affordable smartphone priced at 9,000 shillings (€80).

"The direct impact of data on our economy has already been noted through the increasing number of businesses and services offered online," said Collymore. "With 4G, we can deliver revolutionary services like telemedicine, virtualisation or real-time video that have [an] immediate and transformational impact on our society."