Every month, almost every week, there are several huge events that are held across the country.

They range from national holiday celebrations to music concerts, summits, football matches, and college and university graduations.

One of the key requirements for events like these is good network coverage as people need to communicate on call, through online messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and as is the norm in the digital age, to post on their social media pages.

The large crowds of people all looking to use the network available leads to congestion, and that is how Samuel Mwanga comes in.

Samuel is a telecoms deployment engineer at Safaricom, and he usually leads the team that seeks to save the day at these huge events by deploying, Cell on Wheels, abbreviated COW, which provides temporary or enhanced cellular coverage in the event locations.

A COW is basically a mobile mast, and its associated equipment, mounted on a truck manned by a crew of three or four engineers.

Setting up a COW can not only require a hoist, crane and/or cherry picker, but also the usual data links, power, and a suitable location.

The COW is usually set up to ensure that regardless of where people are, Safaricom will still be able to provide the capacity that is required.

“We’ve deployed COWs in many areas. I’ll give you a good example with the Lewa marathon, but that doesn’t mean that Lewa doesn’t have network coverage. We just move in to increase the network capacity,” said Samuel.

During the recently held Tusker Oktobafest, Safaricom partnered with Tusker as the official connectivity partner, where Safaricom showcased the strength of their 4G and 5G network through the provision of COW network towers to power the entire festival.

Watch the video below to learn more about how Safaricom powers connectivity during events.