[kictanet] GoK-Telkom-France Telecom agreement

[Victor Gathara]

Andrea,
 
Reading this from Dar where I am struggling to get TTCL to give us a
connection to their fibre network so that we can have a 'fibre all
through' solution to our office. Been here for the implementation since
Friday but still no hope of a breakthrough mainly due to TTCL's
bureaucracy and attitude. Clearly competition would help here! I would
definitely be concerned if 'France Telecom to be granted an exclusive
operational and maintenance contract for the government-owned,
multimillion-dollar nationwide optic fibre network.' Having an
operational and maintenance contract for NOFB is a good thing but would
hope it would be done through competitive bidding...
 
Victor

________________________________

From: kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+v-gathara=dfid.gov.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Andrea Bohnstedt
Sent: 22 June 2010 10:21
To: Victor Gathara
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] GoK-Telkom-France Telecom agreement


Dear all, 

I have been quite intrigued by the negotiations between GoK and France
Telecom over their Telkom acquisition that were covered nicely
consistently by the East African in recent weeks. 

The latest instalment here: 
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How%20the%20French%20got%20their%20
way%20in%20battle%20for%20Telkom%20Kenya/-/2558/942312/-/gktealz/-/index
.html

The article states that GoK and France Telecom have come to an
agreements under which 


*	GoK will pay the USD10m fee for the 3G license for Telkom - in
that context, I'd be curious to know if CCk will refund USD15m to
Safaricom as, from what I understand, they had initially promised to do
if the license fee will be lowered from its initial USD25m? 
	
*	GoK will clear overdue bills to Telkom, contributions to the
pension fund, overdue payment to KBC: no issue with these since it
appears fair enough that GoK clears liabilities that precede the
privatisation (never mind the question why GoK/parastatals have been let
to accumulate such obligations in the first place). 
	
*	Telkom to manage and control GoK's 20% stake in TEAMS. 

*	France Telecom to be granted an exclusive operational and
maintenance contract for the government-owned, multimillion-dollar
nationwide optic fibre network. Since we had all these elaborate
discussions recently in the context of the new tariff regulations
regarding competition and level playing field, I wonder how this helps
to create a level playing field?  

I haven't read much from GoK/CCK/Min of Information on this so far, so
first of all, I'd be curious to know how much of the East African
coverage is accurate, and if not, what the facts are - if the PS
Information is reading along? 

And then I'd be interested to hear opinions on how this will affect the
competitive landscape. Anyone thoughts? 

Have a good day and keep warm :) 

Andrea 

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