[kictanet] Introducing Facebook Africa Public Policy Team to KICTANet

Thu Dec 3 17:29:43 EAT 2015

Many thanks Ebele,

Very usefull information.

Regards
On Dec 3, 2015 5:00 PM, "Ebele Okobi" <ebeleokobi at fb.com> wrote:

> Answers below!
>
> [image: Description: Description: Description:
> cid:image001.png at 01C8F888.8FCCE630]
>
>
> Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
>
> m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315
>
> 2 Stephen St | London | W1T 1AN
>
> ebeleokobi at fb.com
>
>
>
> From: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
> Date: Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 10:00 AM
> To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Cc: Ebele Okobi <ebeleokobi at fb.com>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Introducing Facebook Africa Public Policy Team to
> KICTANet
>
> Hi Ebele,
>
> Many thanks for your responses. I have a somewhat dumb question, some
> might have been partly addressed.
>
> 1. What role does the facebook public policy team play in Africa?
> *Our role is the same as our public policy colleagues around the world-we
> are ambassadors for Facebook in our markets, and ambassadors to Facebook on
> behalf of our markets. We engage with policy makers across Sub-Saharan
> Africa (we have a colleague who covers MENA) and with civil society, NGOs,
> and other policy influencers on policy issues that are relevant to our
> company. The list of issues is extremely long, but highlights include net
> neutrality, privacy/free expression, child safety, online violence against
> women, access policies (which include issues like spectrum allocation,
> right of way tax)-really, any policy issue that is connected with being a
> tech company and social media platform.*
>
> 2. What led to the creation of the team?
> Same as with all of our other policy teams-business interest and
> opportunity should be supported with policy engagement. We launched our
> first Africa business office this past June, and our team supports our
> business and policy objectives.
>
> 3. What are facebooks plans regarding promotion of  local content and
> extending connectivity to marginalized areas?
> *I actually covered our connectivity plans fairly exhaustively in my first
> email—can you please have a look and come back to me if you have specific
> follow up questions? W/r to local content, I’m REALLY excited about this,
> because this is where I think there is so much opportunity to amplify great
> local content.  We have hired, also per my first email, Emeka Afigbo, who
> is leading on content partnerships for Free Basics and will also lead on
> developer engagement across EMEA. We also have Dayo Olopade, who is leading
> on media partnerships for Facebook’s platform (so, not Free Basics), which
> will include news, entertainment, sport, etc.-she is joined by Michael
> Ohene-Djan, who leads on engagement with entertainment, specifically. To
> the extent that you have specific recommendations for any of those
> people/teams, do let me know, and I’d be happy to connect you.*
>
> 4. What is Facebooks defination of Net Neutrality and what is its position
> on the same?
> *I also covered this in my first email, but I am happy to re-state-*
> *We believe that services should not be throttled and access should not be
> degraded.*
> *We are in favor of an open Internet and business arrangements that
> provide Internet access to more people. *
> *We believe that zero-rating can be a powerful tool to aid competition-it
> is most often used by market challengers against entrenched incumbents.*
> *We do not believe that zero-rating of services, especially where the
> content provider a) does not own the “pipes”; b) does not pay operators for
> content to be zero-rated; c) offers the content to all operators on a
> non-exclusive basis; d) does not require operators to exclusively carry
> their content, zero-rated or not, does NOT violate net neutrality.*
>
> *If you have any specific questions, after reviewing the above or my
> previous email, happy to reply!*
>
>
> Please educate me
>
> Thanks
> On Dec 3, 2015 9:56 AM, "Ebele Okobi via kictanet" <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Zero-rating plans  are indeed fully compatible and offered along with
>> paid plans-they are just one of many options, and per my response below,
>> zero-rating that is paid for by operator must exist together with paid
>> plans because if not, the operator can't survive.
>>
>> Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
>>
>> m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315 <+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
>>
>> 10 Brock Street | London | NW1 3FG
>>
>> ebeleokobi at fb.com
>>
>> [image: 6F376569-CC77-422B-BAD3-794055B1E02B]
>>
>> On Dec 3, 2015, at 5:57 AM, waudo siganga via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> A quick one for Kivuva, Hussein, Ebele - Please clarify is this
>> Zero-rating incompatible with, i.e. mutually exclusive to paid services?
>> Why cant they operate TOGETHER.
>> Waudo
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 3, 2015, at 01:52 AM, Mwendwa Kivuva wrote:
>>
>> There is a good satirical letter from Max, Zuckerberg's daughter on
>> giving people free access to Facebook as if it was water or electricity:
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/02/max_zuckerberg_reply_letter/
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.theregister.co.uk_2015_12_02_max-5Fzuckerberg-5Freply-5Fletter_&d=CwMCAw&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=1ofvsWEAoehiEhB-dCxh1KgaGPcRfqQJtXIk2EWLIdY&s=sTudx9RKEpMTIDrooq2cQ0jfcJSIgIeFLOoxc6FzFHg&e=>
>> ,
>> On Dec 3, 2015 1:05 AM, Kivuva at transworldafrica.com wrote:
>>
>> Dr. Waudo, your questions are valid, and very well structured. This is
>> what has been asked for some years now. And the idea of asking Facebook to
>> come over is for them to school us too on their view of net neutrality.
>>
>> But find my attempt inline:
>>
>> On Dec 2, 2015 6:48 PM, "waudo siganga" <emailsignet at mailcan.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi Kivuva/Hussein. I need a little more enlightenment:
>> >
>> > 1. Is the "Zero-Rating" issue a debate or has it already been concluded
>> that it is a bad thing? There is a hint that supporting it may leave one in
>> not very good standing..
>>
>> This has not been agreed upon. We would probably not get an answer to
>> whether it is good or bad. But some countries have determined and outlawed
>> zero rating,  some analyze zero rating requests on case by case basis, and
>> other have approved zero rating.
>>
>> > 2. According to Kivuva's well-written article "Zero rating infringes on
>> fundamental human rights by denying users access to the Internet". Are
>> other service providers, including those offering "full" Internet Access at
>> a fee, stopped or hindered from offering their services when some companies
>> offer the zero-rating? Can both forms operate at the same time?
>>
>> This is a great question. And it is probably the main selling point for
>> zero rating. To answer the question, if you have a data package, you can
>> access the Internet outside the zero rated area. I probably like the idea.
>> But what are the root cause for using zero rating? Can we make the Internet
>> affordable?
>>
>> > 3. In Q2 above I have "full" in quotes because in my use of Internet I
>> am yet to come across a truly "neutral Internet" i.e. sometimes I try to
>> access certain websites or services and you are unable as you get a message
>> that you cannot access that site/service from your country, meaning many
>> services providers already practise packet filtering.
>>
>> True. There are many ways in which net neutrality is infringed, and there
>> are different legislation from country to country on those aspects. The one
>> that has affected us more is bandwidth trotting, especially of bit torrent
>> traffic. An ISP advertises unlimited Internet access at $$$, then when you
>> start using more resources than they had anticipated, they tighten your
>> pipe. Bandwidth trotting and protocol blocking was banned by EU in 2014.
>> Mobile carriers used to block access to Skype because it hurts voice,
>> calling, and text-messaging revenue.
>>
>> So part of why we have been calling for a Net Neutrality law in Kenya is
>> to protect the consumer, and also have a stand. Currently, the ISP can do
>> whatever they want. The model to adopt is upto the community.
>>
>> > 4. Hussein gives certain characteristics of a "market" but probably
>> leaves out a very critical one: Choice. The best market is the one where
>> ALL service providers are given the opportunity to offer their services and
>> consumers are left to choose. At the end of the day it is the consumers
>> that decide which companies and services survive and which wilt along the
>> way. Why choose for the consumer beforehand by barring certain services or
>> business models?
>>
>> Be careful before you imprison yourself with your own words :). In the
>> same breath of choice, who decided which websites a consumer should have
>> access to? Why choose for the consumer beforehand? :) Why limit consumer
>> choice?
>>
>> At another level, consumers are not usually very knowledgeable in what
>> they want, or even what is good for a country. I'm ready to bet that if one
>> country allows zero rating, and another country provides reliable
>> affordable broadband, then the one with affordable broadband will
>> experience faster economic growth. This is just an hypothesis.
>>
>> > 5. A couple of years ago the cost and affordability of Internet access
>> was a key ICT public policy issue. We said it was a major impediment to the
>> spread of Internet use. How do we reconcile that with opposition to free
>> (ok "free" as Hussein corrected me) services even if they are only offering
>> a slice of what an open Internet offers.
>>
>> Cost and access are still very relevant especially in our region of the
>> world. That was why the IGF theme was "connecting the next billion." And
>> there are very great suggestions thrown around on how to reduce the cost.
>> Licensing, competition, usf, infrastructure sharing, taxes,...... We are
>> really disadvantaged when it comes to utilising the great benefits of the
>> Internet. Now what happens when we shrink that space more?
>>
>> >
>> > On a lighter note these days I am very happy with Facebook especially
>> the Groups, as I get to know what is going on in the village. But I have
>> been accessing them using a paid service perhaps I can save a few shillings
>> if I got to know how to connect for free.
>>
>> And Facebook likes these case studies. I heard them happily say how they
>> are helping women chamas organise themselves, and also organise civil
>> activism to foster democracy in places like Myanmar. Well, I want that too
>> :-)
>>
>> >
>> > I know Kivuva and Hussein have had extensive opportunity to study this
>> area of Zero-Rating and also to listen o experts so I apologize in advance
>> if my questions do not sound sophisticated.
>> >
>> > Kind Regards,
>> > Waudo
>> >
>> > On Wed, Dec 2, 2015, at 05:07 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva wrote:
>> >>
>> >> We are having the most vibrant debate on Net Neutrality on the list in
>> a long while. Thanks for all contributors, and GG for initiating this
>> timely discussion. It's exciting to see many people interested with the
>> zero rating debate. I'm sure Ebele and Akua from Facebook are fascinated by
>> the dynamism of this group. Thank you Ebele and Akua for graciously joining
>> this debate.
>> >>
>> >> I'll keep my opinions to myself and only ask questions.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> 1. Does Facebook support Net Neutrality?
>> >>
>> >> 2. Does Facebook's zero rating contravene net neutrality principle?
>> >>
>> >> 3. Will Facebook take "zero rated services" to areas without any
>> connectivity infrastructure?
>> >>
>> >> 4. Will Facebook zero rated services reach all the people, even those
>> with feature phones? Does fb have non app based Free basics?. What
>> percentage of your target market has access to smart phones?
>> >>
>> >> 5. Which network operators does Facebook work with? Are all ISPs
>> welcomed to the party?
>> >>
>> >> 6. Will free basics help reduce the cost of internet access?
>> >>
>> >> 7. Does Facebook pay ISPs to offer the "walled garden" to end users?
>> >>
>> >> 8. Why is Facebook running campaigns for "free basics" in a way to
>> suggest that it is  giving free access to the internet? Is FB and a few
>> vanilla websites the Internet?
>> >>
>> >> 9. Facebook is considered affluent. Would it consider providing free
>> internet to everyone?
>> >>
>> >> 10. Is free basics bridging the digital divide or creating confusion
>> of those who cannot differentiate between Facebook and the Internet? Is
>> Facebook keen that users from the developing world have access to the whole
>> wealth of knowledge and information that the Internet provides?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Sincerely,
>> >>
>> >> Mwendwa Kivuva
>>
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>> 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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