[kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling

Sun Dec 29 09:03:29 EAT 2013

SM Muraya, Kenyans firms were involved. There were even two different consortiums of the local media that participated.

The only difference here is that the tender was open and not necessarily targeting local firms or local media for that matter.

I don't know of any procurement law that excludes Kenyan firms but there are certain tenders may only target local firms. The signal distributor one was open to all and the records of the participation can attest to that.

As I pointed out earlier, losing a tender bid is not tantamount to being denied a chance to participate. That's the case we are dealing with here!

From: S.M. Muraya [mailto:murigi.muraya at gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2013 01:03 AM
To: Mutua, Muthusi
Cc: Consumer and Public Affairs; kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling

On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 9:19 AM, Mutua, Muthusi <Mutua at cck.go.ke<mailto:Mutua at cck.go.ke>> wrote:
There are particular tenders, even in Kenya, that are subject to demonstration of a certain percentage of local participation. This cannot, however, be used across the board even for services that don't require this kind of treatment.

Not sure when and by whom was it decided, certain critical services in Kenya do not have to involve Kenyan firms.

Do we develop local capacity through procurement laws which ensure foreign firms manage our critical local/distribution infrastructure?

Note Euro vs China Policy: http://www.slideshare.net/IPRChina/technology-transfer-to-china-guidance-for-business-4312244

Does Kenyan procurement/policy require foreign firms to engage in joint (technical) ventures with firms majority owned by Kenyans?

Suspect... Mobitelea was a case of politically "correct" ghosts getting a 5% cut in a Telco. Was it a Kenyan firm with even a small track record of telco/service provision in Kenya, with evidence it was committed to developing local talent and capabilities?

As we argue through, what's the definition of local media? Is it one local player, two or three of them separately or together? Must these entities also be separately 100% Kenyan in equity? Is KBC a local media?

The media/content which enters the Kenyan home/office may originate from MARS, but the "last mile" infrastructure/frequency through which the digital content enters the home/office, is licensed/managed in Kenya.

In the finance sector is shareholding by any one individual or entity not limited to 24.99%. Kenyans should own over 50% of the firms managing signal distribution.

Let's also appreciate that unless anyone has been denied the chance to participate in a tender, a loss of the bid doesn't amount to being barred from the process.

If being required to have prior engagements in multiple million dollar contracts is not being barred from the tendering process, then you are correct.

As it is, Tanzania has already gone digital. Does anyone know the ownership of their signal distributor? Its interesting to know that. US examples are ok but we need to put them into context. Local and regional examples may even be more relevant to our situation.

From: Ngigi Waithaka [mailto:ngigi at at.co.ke<mailto:ngigi at at.co.ke>]
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2013 09:01 AM
To: Watila Alex <awatila at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:awatila at yahoo.co.uk>>
Cc: Consumer and Public Affairs; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling

Doing some unrelated research and came across this story here
http://www.jeffhead.com/usn21/p8.htm

Key point
"...However, BAE withdrew from the competition in October 2002, recognizing the political reality that its failure to locate and team with a US-based production partner made the bid unrealistic. ..."

Relevance, for those advocating that national interest does not matter in *critical procurement* and backing for local firms, even a large conglomerate as BAE with all the backing from Downling Street can't win a large defense contract in the US against US firms.

Another interesting read here
http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/02/28/how-boeing-won-the-tanker-war/

Regards

On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 6:53 AM, Watila Alex <awatila at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:awatila at yahoo.co.uk>> wrote:
finally accessed the task force report at www.cck.go.ke/about/downloads/<http://www.cck.go.ke/about/downloads/>migration_digital_tv.pdf

the report made the flowing observations & recommendations on the digital signal distribution

  *   The signal distributors will provide services to broadcasters on an equitable, reasonable, non-preferential and non-discriminatory basis. - note the distinction between broadcaster & signal distributor. i was unable to find any obligation placed on broadcasters to avail their content to all the signal distributors. the three broadcasters could decide to only provide their content to their signal distribution company.
  *   The functions of a signal distributor were previously carried out by the broadcasters and a number of challenges come into focus since the existing broadcasters have already made significant investments in infrastructure. There has to be a mechanism to ensure that this investment is not wasted.- this has been the argument of the three broadcasters.
  *   The high set-up costs will limit the number of signal distributors. Furthermore, signal distribution services may not penetrate to areas that are not commercially viable. - limitation of signal distributors seems to have been based on cost of set-up and not the spectrum. according to the three broadcasters, they are able to upgrade their infrastructure to distribute digital signals at a cost that is affordable to them
  *   In order to reduce the cost of migration, the existing designated transmitting analogue sites and infrastructure will be used for digital transmission. - this has been the argument of the three broadcasters.
  *   Based on the government decision to licence KBC as a signal distributor, KBC shall form an independent company to run the signal distribution services in order to avoid conflict of interests or cross subsidies. - Signet? shouldn't it have been a locally owned company. not sure how Chinese ownership came in
  *   The current broadcasters will be allowed to form an independent company to run the signal distribution services in order to utilize their existing infrastructure. This company should be independent to avoid conflict of interests or cross subsidies. This company will be given the first preference to a signal distribution licence. this seems not to have happened as recommended. would have prevented the current acrimony
  *   Existing broadcasters who own infrastructure will negotiate commercial terms with the licensed signal distribution provider for transfer of ownership of the infrastructure. the three broadcasters seem unwilling to pursue this as a means of recovering their "40 billion kes" investment
  *   A time limit be set after which broadcasters will not be allowed to operate unlicensed signal distribution services - seems the three broadcasters have a grace period to distribute digitally.

On 12/27/2013 11:18 AM, Watila Alex wrote:

does anyone have a copy of the digital migration task force report that the media houses are referring to in today's appeal?

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________________________________
From: Watila Alex <awatila at yahoo.co.uk><mailto:awatila at yahoo.co.uk>;
To: Wambua, Christopher <Wambua at cck.go.ke><mailto:Wambua at cck.go.ke>;
Cc: Consumer and Public Affairs <CPA at cck.go.ke><mailto:CPA at cck.go.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke><mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>;
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling
Sent: Thu, Dec 26, 2013 6:59:06 PM

why was the number of signal distributors limited to two?
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From: Wambua, Christopher <Wambua at cck.go.ke><mailto:Wambua at cck.go.ke>;
To: <awatila at yahoo.co.uk><mailto:awatila at yahoo.co.uk>;
Cc: Consumer and Public Affairs <CPA at cck.go.ke><mailto:CPA at cck.go.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke><mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>;
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling
Sent: Thu, Dec 26, 2013 6:43:55 PM

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