[kictanet] [Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Fibre optic delays cost5000jobs a month]

Tue Mar 20 23:36:04 EAT 2007

Kenya:

Our services start from 1750 Skyvision to about 3000 USD on other Sats per M
simplex

  _____

From: kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke at kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke at kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of
Eric Osiakwan
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 17:28
To: kai.wulff at kdn.co.ke
Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Fibre optic delays
cost5000jobs a month]

Kai said "Assume a 1 Mbps duplex Sat capacity costs USD 6 000 per month (it
is actually lower)"

Which country (s) have this cost?

Eric here

On 20 Mar 2007, at 20:01, Kai U. Wulff wrote:

Hello,

As much as I agree that we need at least 2 cables, please see the following

cost calculation:

Assume a 1 Mbps duplex Sat capacity costs USD 6 000 per month (it is

actually lower).

Compression for good quality ranges from 8 Kbps to 16 Kbps, so let's take an

average of 12.8Kbps

So on one Mbps you can have a minimum of 80 calls or 4800 call minutes per

hour. On a 20 hour operation this leads to 96 000 call minutes per day a and

in a 30 day month to 2 880 000 call minutes per month.

You communication cost per call minute = 0.14 KSH !!

If you say your call centre is only loaded by 50% = a quarter of a KSH per

call minute.

What is the cost of electricity, labor, rent ... in perspective?

I still believe we can build competitive call centers even on SAT basis!

Rgds

Kai

-----Original Message-----

From: kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke at kictanet.or.ke

[mailto:kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke at kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of

alice

Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 18:06

To: kai.wulff at kdn.co.ke

Subject: [kictanet] [Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Fibre optic delays cost

5000jobs a month]

Fibre optic delays cost 5000 jobs a month

By Steve Mbogo, Business Daily, March 20, 2007

Every month that passes without Kenya having a fibre optic cable link to

the rest of the world, the country loses an opportunity to create 5,000

jobs.

The figure, based on data collected by Business Daily interviews with

individuals involved in making Kenya a hub for Business Process

Outsourcing (BPO).

BPO involves hiring of vendors to handle business processes like customer

care, accounting, and content provision.

 In Kenya, call centres and publishing content provision are the main

focuses, but other examples of BPO include human resources, accounting

and payroll outsourcing.

Dave Stewart, general manager of KenCall, Kenya's largest call-centre,

said while foreign investors are looking at Kenya as a good destination

for BPO, the lack of a fibre link is stifling some.

"This (fibre link) is a must if there is to be a serious investment in

this area," said Stewart.

Currently established businesses, like KenCall, have no choice but to use

the expensive bandwidth through the satellite network.

Mr Stewart, whose call centre employs 300 people, spends $30,000 to

$70,000 (Sh2.1m to Sh4.9m) for the bandwidth.  BPO players estimated the

advent of the fibre-optic cable could reduce bandwidth costs by 60 per

cent. But cautioned that a single cable might not make a difference as it

will run like a monopoly.

Outsourcing operations have thrived in  developing countries like India

which have sufficient, and cheap enough bandwidth as well as educated

human resources and sound legal and financial infrastructure.

Educated work force

Industry players feel Kenya is well positioned to become a preferred BPO

hub, despite not measuring up on bandwidth. "Kenya's competitiveness in

terms of human resources is very high," said Mr Stewart. "Kenya, like

India, has a very highly educated work force. The accents here are very

popular with the Americans and the Europeans," he added.

And unlike in the West where most see call centre careers as a stepping

stone to other opportunities, in Kenya being employed in a call centre is

regarded as a career.

"This is a potential for growth." Mr Wallace Gichoho the chief executive

of Call Centre Africa Ltd and chairman of Kenya ICT Service Exporters

(KISE) said the type of employees that Call Centres look for are those

that may not make the universities cut off point but had fared well in the

key subject that would enable a company develop skill in them.

This forms a majority of the potential working force and has proved more

stable than graduate employees.  Mugure Kabugua's BPO company, Preciss

offers a service called PrecissPatrol that prowls the Internet on behalf

of clients, and the company is planning a call centre.

She said the business environment for BPO is improving thanks to the

Government encouraging more investment.

She says the local industry is getting attention from international BPO

concerns. Estimates on how many jobs could be created vary. While Ms

Kabugua suggested "hundreds of thousands," Waudo Siganga, the chairman of

the Computer Society of Kenya said a well-functioning BPO industry can

create an estimated 60,000 jobs every year, supported by more than 400

companies licensed to offer information communication technology training.

Meanwhile, Dr Wahome Gakuru, a coordinator for Government's Vision 2030

development plan, said BPO could created "millions of jobs," for young

professionals.

Whichever number is correct, the sector is getting attention from the

places of power.

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