[kictanet] Should we worry over the impending Telkom Collapse

[Ali Hussein]

Listers

Happy Holidays.

Interesting story in the Sunday Nation on the above. It's especially poignant for me as I sit in Lamu trying to send an email for the last two hours with no success. I have both Orange and Safaricom and both have failed me dismally. I'm left wondering:-

What National Broadband Strategy if we can't get the key county headquarters connected even with decent reliable connectivity. Maybe it's because it's the season of Kaskazi which is interfering with connectivity. 

Anyway, back to the Telkom issue:-

Clearly, the government is yet to think through a clear strategy on how to handle  the impending exit of France Telecom  from the shareholding of Telkom Kenya – even as the country’s third mobile operator in terms of subscribers sinks deeper  into financial distress.

The uncertainty around the fate of what was once one of the largest state corporations with a workforce of more than 23,000 employees is captured in a recent letter by Information and Communications Secretary, Dr Fred Matiang’i, to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Writing in October, Dr Matiang’i argued that the insolvency of Telkom Kenya was bound to affect negatively the government’s plans in the ICT sector.

According to Dr Matiang’i, Telkom Kenya’s dwindling fortunes will put the success of the national broadband strategy, including  the plans to roll out Huduma Centres at risk.

Read on:-

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Why-State-should-worry-over-impending-collapse-of-Telkom/-/440808/2564164/-/11c8wxk/-/index.html

Question(s)

1. I hope Dr. Matiang'i was misquoted because for the life of me I can't see how the collapse of one company can put the whole country's Broadband Strategy at risk. Can someone please explain this to me? I doubt this is the case. Was the management contract for NOFBi so skewed to favour Orange Telkom that we are now unable to extricate ourselves?

2. Are we serious about connecting the country? By now we should expect at least the same level of connectivity as Nairobi. We now know that the myth of our country's GDP coming majorly from Nairobi is just that. A myth. Again, when are we going to get the Universal Access Fund working? At this rate we might as well call it a Phantom.

3. Why are we wasting so much energy on Telkom Kenya? I do commensurate with the current Government because they really were saddled with this albatross. But now it's time to put it out of its misery. This may sound callous but Orange is going nowhere. Even the staff know it. If we want to save Kenyan jobs then let's step in and revert it back to being a parastatal because clearly the French have funked it.  

Ali Hussein

+254 770 906375 / 0713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
Blog: www.alyhussein.com

"I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein

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