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

[Ngigi Waithaka]

Daktari,

Having looked at your comments,  I would want to think the comparisons you
have picked do not quite cut it.

Fact, we currently have firms in Kenya apart from KBC who have a reliable
analogue transmission network across the entire country and so far they
have delivered on this.

To upgrade this transmission network to pump out Digital Signals, instead
of the Analogue is not rocket science. It can be done easily and would
reuse such existing infrastrucure such as sites, masts, backup generators,
logistics & security etc

To say or assume that these firms could *not* provide a Digital Solution if
asked to,  simply does not add up. Not when they have 60% of what you need
and the remaining parts e.g multiplexers, antennas are off-the-shelf parts.

Second, to compare these firms to Mobitelea is really pushing it. Here you
are talking of firms that have demostrated capacity in building &
maintaining their own infrastructure and that are employing Kenyans to
maintain and operate them.

These are not politically connected individuals who have nothing else to
offer apart from access to high places.

These are solid Kenyan companies.

Thirdly, this case cannot even be remotely compared to KPTC where
competition had to be introduced to kickstart our Telco Sector. In this
case you are actually consolidating the *infrastructure* industry to a
single vendor not liberating it.

You are going from more than 10 firms each with own transmission
infrastrucure to two firms, one of which (KBC) as you have correctly
indicated doesn't cut it.

So infact you have consolidated our entire transmission industry into a
single company, and then given that to the Chinese!

If there is something that smells Mobitelea. That is it!

Fourth you mention the China Telcom partnering up with Apple iPhone as an
example of how countries sometimes partner with firms outside their own.
But you fail to mention they never went to Apple as their first point of
call. They first partnered up with Lenovo, HTC, Huawei (solid Chines firms)
before the call to Cupertino was made.

You take care of your own first before you go taking care of others. That's
what smart countries & leadership does.

Lastly,  please let us differentiate btn the Infrastructure issues and
Digital Migration issues.

On Digital migration,  we are headed there and there is not much support
for Media firms on this. Wapende wasipende!

However,  on denying them the deal to build the Digital Infrastructure is
very questionable and on the very least points to a certain 'Mobitelea'
type deal, exactly what you say we ought to have avoided.

But then again, This is Kenya. Where the impossible happens.

Waithaka Ngigi

Alliance Technologies
Nairobi, Kenya

www.A1.io
On 29 Dec 2013 21:36, "Bitange Ndemo" <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Kivuva,
> Iam a supporter of building local capacities but whichever way CCK would
> have given out the license, there was going to be criticism.  CCK wanted
> someone capable of putting up infrastructure after we discovered Signet
> was taking too long and Government did not have money.  The financial bid
> for all the local firms did not measure up to what CCK had requested.
>
> You realize CCK has gone through this journey before and were hit hard
> when policy requirement needed 70 percent local participation, we got
> Mobitelea.  Every policy pronouncement has some wheeler dealers behind
> singing patriotism.  World over what is needed is the ability to provide
> the solution.  You read the other day that China Telcom was partnering
> with I-Phone yet China is the greatest producer of mobile handsets.  There
> comes a time when we must accept partnerships that will help us build
> capacity.  We provided that opportunity in Signet but it was declined.
> When you focus on coverage to offer essential service, you look at
> capability as demonstrated in the financials.
>
> For many years we protected KPTC as a critical infrastructure but what we
> ended up with was poverty en masse.  Our people would not afford
> telephony.  Ever since we liberalized the communications sector, it is now
> contributing more than 5 percent to the economy up from zero percent.  It
> is dangerous to focus on one aspect of migration infrastructure.  If each
> of the broadcaster is given multiplexing ability, they will hoard the
> spectrum and shut out new entrants just when the creative economy is
> trying to pick up.  The current Media is simply trying to protect its own
> interests considering the fact that we have new hard working Kenyans
> entering the broadcast arena. Why would we be supportive of oligopolistic
> practices when the industry is opening up to more players?
>
> Court or no court Migration will take place and new business models will
> emerge.  This is where we need to focus our attention.  The delaying
> tactics you are seeing is to disenfranchise more than 100 new broadcasters
> that are born and bred in this country.  I said before and would state
> here that not even Signet or PANG would build a sustainable business model
> without serious content aggregation strategy considering the fact that
> technology changes every 3 years.
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
>
> > Ali, I'm afraid many listers are not getting your argument, that of
> > auctioning our critical resources to foreigners.
> >
> > Many of us have been dragged into taking sides either for the
> > government (CCK), or the local media houses. If we divorce them from
> > this debate, maybe we will be more objective.
> >
> > Let me digress, we have enough coal in Kitui to setup a powerplant
> > that can propell Kenya to vision 2030 and stop relying on poor
> > rainfall and other unreliable renewable energy like geothermal. But
> > what did we do with the coal? We auctioned it to the Chinese "who need
> > the power more than us." That is the same thing happening to our
> > spectrum resources.
> >
> > Forget about procurement laws and let's think about economics that
> > will build the country without taking sides. Is it better to give the
> > frequency distribution to a local firm, and keep local dollars local,
> > or is it better to have that capital flight to China? We should even
> > give the third licence FREE to a consortium of local firms than
> > auction it for a Billion dollars to a foreigner.
> >
> > Are we a nation that has lost national pride?
> >
> > Remember CCK cannot have an objective stand on this since Wambua has
> > to respond with the official government position, and I cannot fault
> > him for that. Only civil society can take the high moral ground and do
> > what is good for Kenya. Advocate for our critical resources, airwaves,
> > minerals, tourism, ... to be controlled by locals.
> >
> > Dr. Ndemo is the economist on the list. Can he teach us why developed
> > economies work so hard to support their industries, while Kenya works
> > extra hard to support foreign economies? What are the repercussions on
> > future generations?
> >
> > Anybody who cannot get this argument is beyond uncolonization.
> >
> > --
> > ______________________
> > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
> > kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
> >
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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