Untold History; The History of Phones in Kenya

The History of Phones in Kenya from  telephone booth Kenya, mobiles from in Kenya is a rich history of phones in Kenya.

In 1999, I purchased a Motorola M3888 in a shiny blue color. While being a luxury, it was the least expensive mobile phone available, earning it the street appellation "phone booth." It cost 14,000KES ($160) and was a Valentine's Day gift from my father purchased during a Safaricom promotion. I adored that phone because all I could do was send SMS and make calls, which cost 40KES (50 cents) per minute.

A phone may now be purchased for as little as 1,000KES ($12), and calls cost 1KES ($0.01) per minute. You may purchase two Android phones for 14,000KES, which, like many other mobile devices, let you do much more than just send and receive SMS and make calls.

Phone-Evolution-in-Kenya

Alexander Graham Bell was the first person to obtain a patent for an electric telephone from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in March 1876.

Evolution of  Phone in Kenya 

At first, phone service was available to large corporations and wealthy individuals in expensive monthly plans. But as the demand for telephone service grew after its invention, so did the need for access to telephone exchanges that connected people through carriers.

In 1889, a new solution to the problem of payphones was found in the form of a coin-operated telephone which was installed in a bank in Hartford, Connecticut, established by William Gray.

Legend has it that Gray got the idea when his wife fell ill and needed to see a doctor in 1888. Having no phone in the house, Gray drove to the nearest place where he knew there was a telephone, a factory down the street. . .

But at first they refused to let him use the phone because he was not a subscriber. However, when he explained his wife's situation, he was allowed to use the phone and it left an impression in his mind. Gray figured there had to be a way to let people without phones call without paying the monthly subscription fee.

He created a series of experimental models and finally obtained a patent on August 13, 1889 for his device. Gray formed the Gray Telephone Pay Station Company in 1891 and together with another inventor named George Long made a number of improvements.

Described as a "farming invention", it popularized the telephone, which became a commercial and domestic necessity allowing its use in public places.

Early coin phones, including the Gray phone, were postpaid on an honor system where you made the call and when you were done, as all calls required operators, the carrier told you which coins to deposit.

The coins would ring a bell, creating a sound that the trader could hear to determine if it was the correct value. Prepaid telephone systems were developed at the turn of the century and 1909 saw the development of a system that returned coins if your call did not go through.

1911 saw the introduction of the Model 50A coin-operated payphone, jointly manufactured by Gray's Company and Western Electric (the manufacturing division of AT&T), which met many of these characteristics.

In 1913, New York City alone had 25,000 of these devices installed on subway platforms and wherever someone needed to make a call.

The History of Phones in Kenya

Outdoor telephone booths first appeared in the early 20th century and became commonplace in the 1950s when glass and aluminum replaced hard-to-maintain wood as the preferred building material. At its peak, there were over two million payphones in the United States.

In Kenya, the first telephone network was connected in 1908 with 18 subscribers in Nairobi and Mombasa. During the colonial period, the telephone remained the exclusive domain of the colonizing community and its businesses. It was not until the early 1960s that red telephone booths (modeled on those in Britain) were first installed in major Kenyan towns.

Previously, ordinary Kenyans relied on letters and telegrams as a means of communication. The public telephone booth was revolutionary, providing an accessible and accessible means of communication in real time.

Even if you didn't have cash, you could ask the operator for a "self-cash" call that your counterparty would pay if they accepted.

Demand for telephone services grew rapidly and by the 1980s, even with over 8,000 telephone booths in the country, long queues were common.

But part of the problem was caused by vandalism, and many stands were out of order as parts of the equipment were torn off. Poor maintenance by the contractor also meant that less work equipment was available to the public.

Of course, there were also losses for the service provider caused by mischievous youngsters "tapping" the calls for free. Even when smart cards were introduced, these young people found a way to make free calls.

But the final death knell for public payphones came in the form of the cell phone in the 1990s. The cell phone offered instant and affordable communication on the go. Plus, you can now access a wide range of financial services (such as M-Pesa), email, social media, images, movies, videos and maps.

In 2010, Telkom Orange removed the last public telephone booths. Many have ended up with drug dealers while others have been abandoned and serve as safe havens for vigilantes and street children.

Based on a groundbreaking patent that lasted over 100 years, the phone booth has gone down in history, a remnant of a bygone era.

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