[kictanet] Introducing Facebook Africa Public Policy Team to KICTANet

Wed Dec 2 14:55:22 EAT 2015

Ngigi

The argument for and against Zero Rating and Net Neutrality isn't as simple as you have put it. 

Consider this:-

If health care and education were left entirely to the vagaries of the Free Market inequality in the world would continue to thrive without any interventions. 

I am consistent in my argument that Internet Connectivity is the new imperative in the world. Give people access to inexpensive and affordable connectivity and you will see people's lives changing. Social Media itself is a case study of how politics can be turned on its head by people engaging openly without fear. 

I concede that Freemium models have rocketed business models into the stratosphere. What I'm against is for us to blindly consume content through 'free' connectivity without understanding the implications of it to:-

1. Our social membrane
2. Our nascent Internet businesses. 

You and I have the responsibility to point out these pitfalls and then let people choose to either consume or not these services that are 'free'.

My other point is about the failure of governments in Africa to execute on the promises of the Universal Access Fund. If this is executed as it should we won't even be having this discussion. It would be a mute point.

No one is picking on Facebook here. We are interrogating this issue as we should. We are exposing people who may not have thought it through. We don't have a Silver Bullet here. What we want is to create a platform for us to exhaustively discuss this issue.

Ngigi, I'll end up by repeating my favorite market definition.

There are 3 core components of a market - The buyer, the seller and the Product/Service. I'll add another one - The Platform. So if you are not the buyer, the seller or the platform what are you? 

As a last point to emphasize the above:-

Below is Facebook's Average Revenue Per User:-

http://www.statista.com/statistics/430862/facebook-annualized-advertising-arpu/

Regards 

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 / 0770906375

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

"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi

Sent from my iPad

> On 2 Dec 2015, at 10:55 AM, Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi at at.co.ke> wrote:
> 
> Ali,
> 
> This is also very interesting to me as well...
> 
> For as long as there has been someone selling something, there has always been either a free sample and/or free time etc. Focusing on our industry, there are lots of free things that companies push in order to get that important lock in... e.g
> 
> Google Search (Free) -> Locks you in to Google Ads
> Android (Free)-> Locks you in to Google Ads
> 120 Day MS Office Free Trial -> Locks you to MS Office paid
> Linux (Free) -> Locks you in to using *free* things :-)
> Include any other software firm here...
> 
> I mean, this list and especially in Technology is *endless*
> 
> Question is, if Facebook is giving away free internet to lock in users to Facebook its just following a line that's been drawn in the sand from the first salesman.
> 
> Why are we picking on them?
> 
> Rgds
> 
> 
>> On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 10:43 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>> Waudo
>> 
>> Nothing is free in this world.. :-)
>> 
>> To bring you upto speed on this issue I'd recommend Kivuva's seminal discourse on this issue:-
>> 
>> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20151124_zero_rating_a_poisoned_chalice_for_the_developing_world/
>>   
>> Ali Hussein
>> Principal
>> Hussein & Associates
>> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>> 
>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>> Skype: abu-jomo
>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
>> 
>> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On 2 Dec 2015, at 9:51 AM, waudo siganga via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thanks for this initiative Grace. I am just wondering what is wrong with commercial entities that want people to access their sites for free. I would encourage anything given for free! In earlier days we were preaching that we should let the market decide direction. The old policies that were unilaterally set by governments had failed to deliver universal services as we saw with the telephony sector before market liberalization. It looks now we are going full circle and there is a move to curtail market forces, possibly using governmental interventions. However I am still in the process of updating myself on this issue.
>>>  
>>> Waudo
>>>  
>>>> On Tue, Dec 1, 2015, at 12:07 AM, Grace Githaiga via kictanet wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Dear Listers
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Greetings. I hope your week has started well.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> The topic of Net Neutrality has become an important global Internet Governance issue in the last two years, and has generated some interesting debates. 
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> In Kenya, Facebook has partnered with Airtel to offer users zero rated services, christened "free basics" which means that several websites have been selected (for lack of a proper word)  to participate in the platform, where users access these websites for free. However, the same users cannot access any other website unless they pay for the data.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Different positions depending on where their proponents stand have been shared.  Please find one here by Nanjira Sambuli http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/free-internet-freedom-create/-/620/2975634/-/f6hgvx/-/index.html and another by our own Mwendwa Kivuva http://www.circleid.com/posts/20151124_zero_rating_a_poisoned_chalice_for_the_developing_world/
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Those for pro zero rated services have argued that it gives more users free access to the Internet, and that it is a genuine attempt to connect the unconnected. Those on the opposite side argue that zero rating stifles innovation, leads to customers lock-in, is anti competitive behavior, confuses the users on the true meaning of the Internet, denies users choice, and makes policy makers lazy in ensuring proper affordable internet is availed to the masses.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Facebook's Head of Public Policy, Africa Ebele Okobi, and the Public Policy Manager, Africa Akua Gwekye have graciously agreed to respond to any queries the community has on zero rated services.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> The Process
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Please articulate your concerns and ask questions as we usually do when we have moderated debates. The facebook team will then look at the questions and respond to you on Wednesday Evening. Depending on how it goes, we can then see how to continue engaging with them. 
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> I think this is a great opportunity for the facebook team to unpackage free basics issue, and it is my hope that the debate will be exciting given the prominence members of the list have given the net neutrality debate. 
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Over to you listers! And a very warm welcome to Ebele and Akua. 
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Warmly
>>>> 
>>>> Grace
>>>> 
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>>>>  
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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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>> 
>> 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.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Regards,
> 
> Waithaka Ngigi
> Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod Building
> T +254 20 525 0750 |Office Mobile: +254 716 201061 | M +254 737 811 000
> www.at.co.ke
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