[kictanet] [Skunkworks] proposed new license fees for Application/Content Service Providers

Fri Feb 29 11:18:45 EAT 2008

Greetings Walu,

At the school I went to, we had a headmaster and when school
captains went to consult him, he used to say, "Before I tell you
what I have decided, do you have anything to say?" I then asked
why bother speaking when the headmaster has already decided?

CCK should cancel those proposed fees completely otherwise
they are guilty of frustrating promotion of local content from going
online and other e-services, the fees being proof. On one hand we
are working very hard at addressing the local content problem, but
on the on the other the regulator is busy making it even harder to
achieve that goal. Except for those already endowed….

Why is it that whenever innovative, promising new services are
round the corner, CCK shuts them down via impossible fees and
conditions. Some examples: Outsourcing has great potential then
CCK started asking for 100,000/= license fees from operators
start-ups.

ISP services licenses can only be afforded by city businesspersons
 - as a result 81% of Kenya Internet is available only in Nairobi
leaving out "unprofitable" or "not so affluent/lucrative" rural folks.
Local Loop Operators - whose, how many and where are they
located? Regional Telecommunication Operators, now content...
what will the next license be?)

India succeeded in widespread internet penetration when their
government came to terms with the reality that national access
and growth was more valuable that exorbitant annual one-off
license fees thus charged 0(zero) rupees to ISPs until in 2003
when they had to charge just 1 (one) rupee as contractual
consideration to make agreements legal;) But apparently
ours still believes in license income.

Board Authority/Decision Processes:

Alice Munyua sits at the CCK Board thus no excuse not to know
or not party to this proposal - but she did not find it necessary to
inform us of this important issue?

Then why was it necessary to start a discussion on how to help
regulators e-capacity if them the CCK Board knows it all? My
onlist question on whether CCK asked us for help were ignored
and never answered to-date.

Maybe we have a principally flawed regulatory approach resulting
in an "Open-But-Shut" liberalized market, impossible for many new
players to enter in order to deliver effective market competition for
the benefit of telecomm consumers. This explains why end up
stuck with perpetually oligopolies keen to retain and expand their
grip on the users ("the market") and a handful of institutionalized
conformists benefiting alongside.

The worst part is that the regulatory philosophy is (deliberately?)
structured to lock out small timers and newcomers while consolidating
industry benefits in the hands of a few, wealthy.

But remember public officials are in office to protect and promote
public interests and if the public is not consulted most widely,
then for whom are they in office serving?

For now and considering that the comments are expected by 5 pm
today! I choose to sit back and wait to hear what the headmaster
had already decided;)

Good day,

Alex

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 6:21 PM, John Walubengo <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Alex,
>
>  it's actually the other way round.  From a strict
>  government perspective - CCK Board decisions or
>  deliberations do NOT ofcourse need KICTAnet endorsement.
>  Howevever I do get your drift, they (CCK Board) are free to
>  harvest as much intelligence as they want from KICTAnet and
>  other sources...which i think they were doing from their
>  call for comments on their website and i think I saw the
>  same in the press a while back.
>
>  Maybe what they needed was to commission a discussion
>  thread around the issue for a much better incisive and
>  interactive insight....
>
>  walu.
>
>
>
>  --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  > One would have supposed that kictanet members privy to
>  > this CCK Board decision ought to have have raised
>  > these impossibly large, thus SME exclusionist, fees
>  > for open discussions???
>  >
>  >
>  > --- Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >
>  > >  Attention Colleagues,
>  > >
>  > > Are you aware that the Communications Commission of
>  > > Kenya has issued an
>  > > important consultative document on the proposed
>  > > Unified License framework?
>  > > Comments are welcomed by CCK, due by deadline of 29
>  > > February 2008 at close
>  > > of business.
>  > >
>  > > The market segments categorised in the CCK paper
>  > > Applications Service
>  > > Providers (ASPs) and Content Service Providers (CSP)
>  > > (include all Value
>  > > Added Service (VAS) Providers and Web-based Public
>  > > Commercial Information
>  > > Service Providers can provide economic opportunities
>  > > to Micro and Small
>  > > Enterprises (SME) as well as Small and Medium Sized
>  > > companies (MSE). Note
>  > > that all these services proposedly attract a
>  > > KES100,000 registration fee +
>  > > KES100,000 or 0.5% of turn-over charge. That will
>  > > keep many players out of
>  > > the market. How many higher education graduates are
>  > > working to create a
>  > > niche for themselves in the market?  They should be
>  > > encouraged and
>  > > supported!
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > The new regulatory framework should not place any
>  > > obstacles to new investors
>  > > and market entrants, especially not to SME's.
>  > > Therefore, the
>  > > proposedlicense fees for these two categories should
>  > > be replaced by a
>  > > general
>  > > license. Normally, such licensees does not pay
>  > > license fees but register
>  > > with the regulatory body and subsequently receive a
>  > > certificate endorsing
>  > > their operations in the sector.
>  > >
>  > > MARCEL WERNER
>  > > Kenya ICT Federation
>  > > > _______________________________________________
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>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
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