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

Fri Feb 29 11:22:09 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.  

I think our regulatory approach could be principally
flawed 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. 

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

--- 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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> > > 
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> > 
> > 
> > 
> >      
> >
>
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