[kictanet] Uproar Over Internet Costs in Kenya

Sat Oct 31 10:08:24 EAT 2009

Walu,

The USD 2.00 per monrh is certainly not viable YET even in developed 
nations. For whatever reasons (folly, stress, peer pressure) many of us 
in Africa spend our meager means on non essentials (to peace and 
productivity) such as such as 'kumi kumi', 'dogo dogo's, mdudu's here 
and there....

One way to go is micro-offer's of 1GB for about KShs 150. This 
translates to 10GB of data for KShs 1,500.00 (USD 20.00). With network 
(efficiency) technology improvements it is only a matter of time before 
this happens. Do netbooks today not have more power than mainframes of 
yester year?

Who over the next 5 years is dumb enough to deny 200 Million African 
households 1GB of data  for USD 2.00? The current Safaricom offer is 
even surpassing that today in rural areas where there is low density - 
more bandwidth available to fewer people.

Someone recently wrote in a Daily Nation we need to start looking at 
Africans as hands to work not as mouths to feed....We just need to stop 
doing dumb things so that more of us in Africa can have USD 2.00 for 1GB 
of data.

 Walubengo J wrote:
> Eric,
>
> trust me its true...KDN is pushing bandwidth at very competitive rates 
> to the so called 'end-users'.  But at 200USD that is about  15,000Ksh 
> per 1MB which is TWICE the average salaries of Kenyan 
> citizens(mwananchi).  Meaning the 'end-users' defined here are NOT 
> mwananchi but corporates/SMEs, etc. Put differently KDN really plays 
> at the wholesale layer (Kai may object but...) and their price drops 
> are being enjoyed mostly by retailers (ISP/ASP).
>
> We shall only celebrate meaningful and effective price-drops when for 
> example AccessKenya/UUNET/Safcom etc say they are giving you unlimited 
> 1MB links at around 2USD (Ksh 150) per month - if we are to take 
> developed economies GDP per capita and their pricing for monthly 
> broadband internet  and recalculating for  our context.
>
> But I always have the rejoinder that I will understand if this does 
> not happen tomorrow - since we are really are yet to mature the 
> parameters that guarantee such wishful pricing. However, we should 
> have specific plans that define the steps and timelines we are 
> undertaking to mature such parameters - local content, affordable 
> last-mile access, IXPs, Usage,  just to mention a few.
>
> walu.
>
>
>
>
> --- On *Sat, 10/31/09, Eric M.K Osiakwan 
> /<emko at internetresearch.com.gh>/* wrote:
>
>
>     From: Eric M.K Osiakwan <emko at internetresearch.com.gh>
>     Subject: Re: [kictanet] Uproar Over Internet Costs in Kenya
>     To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>     Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>     Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009, 8:59 AM
>
>     Evidence is the name of the game, though we are not in court....:-)
>
>     TGIF.
>
>     Eric here
>
>
>     On 30 Oct 2009, at 00:08, alice munyua wrote:
>
>     > KDN, For example "is currently selling submarine capacity,
>     delivered to the user at between 220 and 600 USD per 4 Mbps! This
>     is an effective price of between 55 to 150 USD per Mbps depending
>     on volume".
>     >
>     > Best
>     > Alice
>     >
>     > ------Original Message------
>     > From: alice munyua
>     > Sender: kictanet-bounces+alice=apc.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>     </mc/compose?to=apc.org at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>     > To: alice at apc.org </mc/compose?to=alice at apc.org>
>     > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
>     > ReplyTo: alice at apc.org </mc/compose?to=alice at apc.org>
>     > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Uproar Over Internet Costs in Kenya
>     > Sent: 30 Oct 2009 07:03
>     >
>     > Hi Eric
>     > Thank you for this posting. A question though, who wrote this
>     piece and where did they get their information apart from quoting
>     P.S. Ndemo?
>     >
>     > Best
>     > Alice
>     > -----Original Message-----
>     > From: Eric M.K Osiakwan <emko at internetresearch.com.gh
>     </mc/compose?to=emko at internetresearch.com.gh>>
>     > Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:14:14
>     > To: <alice at apc.org </mc/compose?to=alice at apc.org>>
>     > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy
>     Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>     </mc/compose?to=kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
>     > Subject: [kictanet] Uproar Over Internet Costs in Kenya
>     >
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>
>     Eric M.K Osiakwan
>     Director
>     Internet Research
>     www.internetresearch.com.gh
>     emko at internetresearch.com.gh
>     </mc/compose?to=emko at internetresearch.com.gh>
>     42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
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