Explained: How telecom engineers keep you connected

Have you ever paused to think about the people working behind the scenes to keep you online, even in the dead of night? From paying for groceries to making late-night calls, Kenyans depend heavily on mobile networks; few stop to consider what it takes to keep them running.

So what really happens when the signal drops, or your transaction hangs?

Consider the case of Sunstar Hotel, located along Thika Road. In 2013, its customers struggled to make calls or confirm M-PESA payments until a booster was installed three years later.

“In 2016, the Safaricom team installed a rooftop network booster, and since then, at least, it has stabilised. Now I can pick calls and transact on M-PESA,” said James Mwirigi, the hotel’s finance manager.

Such site-specific fixes are complemented by engineers working to maintain network stability. In the Central Business District, for instance, engineers like Kiptanui Kandie spend their days responding to faults for Safaricom.

“On a day-to-day basis, I check on the network incidents affecting the Nairobi CBD region. Anything that is affecting service is given priority,” he said.

Kandie and others are on call even at night, supported by the Service Operations Centre (SOC) in Westlands.

“We monitor all the activities that happen in those boosters. We don't have somebody physically on site to monitor what goes on, so we have been empowered with tools that can detect all the activities,” said Lillian Kiambati, who leads the SOC team.

Guarding against invisible threats

Beyond outages and congestion, teams also work to protect the network from cyberattacks. Security analysts monitor for threats that could compromise calls, data, or even the mobile money apps.

“The security operation center is a location where we monitor cyber threats. So basically, in that center, we see the threats that are happening within the organisation and externally,” explained Samuel Ochieng, who leads one of the monitoring teams.

Threat analyst Annette Wanjiru added: “We collect events from devices within the network and also at the perimeter… what was caught by our defence mechanisms and the mitigations we do. Then we look at the controls to improve.”

The invisible lifeline

Kenyans rely on mobile networks for everything from calls to payments, and that dependence is only deepening. As demand for data and mobile money continues to grow, the unseen work of the men and women who keep these systems running will become even more critical.

“Good network, M-PESA and fast Wi-Fi have become a basic need; all these engineers play a key role in giving customers the best network experience,” said Annette.