[kictanet] Fastest way to get to Silicon Savannah

[Mark Mwangi]

Dear Listers,

The notion that grand ideas need grand schemes and subsequently grand mega
projects may be what confuses us and the resultant complications grind the
idea to a stop.

We are all shouting ourselves hoarse about how digital the new
establishment is and the associated mega projects such as Konza that have
been both shot at and polished in equal stride.

I think the solution to achieving first world tech hub status is very basic
indeed and can be done now without the need of building a gleaming new
city.   I remember meeting Chrystal Watley Kigoni when she was embarking on
putting an internet connected computer in remote villages. I remember her
being asked why she would take inernet to people
who weren't even literate and what she hoped to achieve with it. Her answer
was that not having the connection was not helping them either.

Prof. Mitra has demonstrated what access to resources with no training can
enable children to teach themselves.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

In light of this maybe the fastest way to attain our tech-literate goals is
to get everyone an internet connection and see what happens. In my opinion
the easiest way to do this is to get KPLC to do it. Make it a requirement
to drop dark or live fiber to each and every premises that they supply
power to. If the power distribution gets devolved in future then compel the
new players to do the same. In short get every single building that is
connected to the national power grid be connected to a parallel national
fiber grid.

Leaving matters of internet connectivity to market forces have gotten us to
where we are now. Multiple fibers at the coast, insignificant drop in
prices or increased access to the public.

Arguments about cost will always arise but what is the cost of not doing
it? Do we want to be a nation that only knows of internet through the lens
of mobile network dongles and bundles? Using radio spectrum to deliver high
quality internet is not sustainable and we know it. Besides downloading and
uploading terabytes of data will clog up the spectrum.

The telcos will have the most to gain. They do not need to worry about
cable cuts and just pay KPLC a fee to use their capacity. Consumers choose
their preferred provider and the internet companies finally settle down to
core business.

This would also create one of the biggest national networks and should be
an interesting case study. Ofcourse privacy and democracy advocates could
argue that this also affords a totalitarian government an easy plug to pull
to shutdown everyones internet but we can find ways around this in the law
or in its design.



-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke
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