[kictanet] University of Nairobi Set Top Boxes

Areba Collins [ @BrainiacKE ® ] arebacollins at gmail.com
Sun Feb 17 18:55:22 EAT 2013


back to the politics of Digital migration, Here is a suggestion:

1: GOK funds expansion of the signal carriers, (selflessly this time around
instead of on one hand going to bed with one commercial service provider
and on the other hand trying to make a bad sell of a "free" version that is
undersubscribed and "free as in beer".

2: GOK makes it mandatory for advertising based providers to put their
signal on the free spectrum before considering going GoTV or any other
commercial operation. this brings on board a critical mass of all local
based broadcasters on board.

3: GOK then gives a quota of set top boxes (whose total production must be
a certain percentage local, say 30% locally made) to the service providers,
so that instead of charging them fees for the service over a certain
period, broadcasters spend to increase reach and coverage.

IMHO This would prevent the chicken and egg story facing broadcasting
companies and signet.

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 12:06 AM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Listers,
> A total of 81 million manufacturing jobs are to move out of China in the
> next few years.  Some jobs are moving back to the US and some are finding
> their way into emerging economies.   In the past few weeks since the
> ground breaking ceremony at Konza, I have met with six manufacturing
> outfits that are considering Africa as their new manufacturing
> destination.  Two are well known chipset manufacturers.  They not only
> want to manufacture their chipsets here but would want to build a supply
> chain by partnering with locals to manufacture hand-sets using their
> platform.
>
> The four other visitors are emerging American and European companies that
> want to leverage on new opportunities arising in Africa’s burgeoning
> mobile market.  Some of the questions they ask include whether we are
> doing any light electronic assembly work.  Of course the answer is no but
> I try to say good things about Dr. Gachigi’s work at the University of
> Nairobi Fab Lab.  In my view we have collectively failed.  We cannot get a
> donation from the MIT and seek for someone to take the risk by giving
> further aid.  We cannot develop if we cannot take the risk ourselves.
> The KictaNet platform has been great and we say good things yet in three
> days we forget about them.  At times we revive the issues but we never do
> anything that our children and grand children will remember us about.  The
> forum we have is great.  We need to use it much more by for example
> mobilizing resources to seize these emerging opportunities.  Our risk is
> minimized if for example 1,000 people give 100,000 for production of
> locally manufactured set top boxes or mobile handsets.  We shall never get
> to do this unless we consider the opportunities our collective
> responsibility to exploit them.
>
> If you watched Johannes, the World Bank Country head’s press conference on
> Friday, you should be worried.  The Bank is worried that the declining
> food productivity especially maize will lead to severe food insecurity in
> the country.  There are signs that we may not get sufficient rainfalls
> next year.  This is no longer a surprise since the drought cycle in Kenya
> is four years.  Subsistence farming is the cause of all our problems.  The
> solution is that we must reduce those we call farmers from 80% to less
> than 5% and increase manufacturing from its current contribution to GDP of
> 11% to more than 40%.  We must move to large scale and mechanized farming
> in order to significantly improve on our productivity.
>
> To achieve this, we must address land use in this country but we have
> decided to burry our heads in the sand on the issue of land.  The problem
> is not in the distribution of it or the size one owns but in land use.  It
> is far much easier to tax the Delameres for not utilizing the land than
> resettling 10,000 people on the land on the basis of ensuring equitable
> distribution of land.  There is no country that has developed with
> majority of its people spread throughout the country in what they call
> Home Square.  There are more than 70 million people living in England
> which is the size of Nyanza.  In Kenya, 20% of land is arable and can be
> used without reliance on irrigation.  This is far bigger space than
> England but due to our primitive sub-division of the land, we are not able
> to use the land productively.  In Kisii which is the most fertile land in
> Kenya, average land size has dropped to less than two acres.  Some
> “farmers” grow less than 100 stalks of maize.  Clearly we are creating
> problems as we see crime soaring.
>
> As Johannes concluded, we must scale up our manufacturing.  This will
> enable us to rapidly urbanize and hopefully leave land for farming.
> Manufacturing opportunities in Kenya are enormous with insatiable market
> around us.  Can we for once wake up and try exploiting these
> opportunities?  I shall be the first one to contribute Ksh. 100,000 as
> capital for those willing to mobilize resources and take the risk of
> venturing into manufacturing either in light electronics or in value added
> services to our agricultural products.  There is a body of knowledge that
> will help us minimize the risk.  I know for example if we met the
> standards of potatoes we consume at KFC, we can begin to compete with
> Egypt and Brazil.  This also provides us with the opportunity to develop
> standards apps and further expand job opportunities.
>
> It is my prayer that this time round we go past palaver and do something
> not just for us but the country.  Kictanet will become part of history if
> we pull this.  No donor or anybody can do this for us.  Let us just do it.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
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-- 
*“The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of
great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of
corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of
protecting corporate power against democracy”*
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