[kictanet] NET NEUTRALITY ISSUES AND HOW THEY COME HOME TO ROOST

[Ali Hussein]

Listers

Apologies for cross-posting.

The above refers.

This list has been vocal (and I hope will continue to be) on the above
subject despite silence from the policy makers. An incident in India brings
this closer home than is comfortable for some of us. This involves Airtel.
Below I quote a press release from the Indian Civil Society:-

Airtel India, one of the leading mobile and Internet providers in the
country recently announced that it will charge pre paid mobile customers
more for using certain over the top services – starting off with VoIP
services (such as Skype and Viber). The costs are in the range of Rs. 16
per minute of Skype, a huge cost to those users who access the Internet
through the mobile route.

While Airtel has backed down and reversed its aforesaid plans following a
public outcry, the implications of the original announcement are clear –
Airtel has indicated that it is willing to act as a gate-keeper of the
Internet: restricting access to certain content / applications / services
based on how much you can pay.

See attached for the full release.

You can see the concerns.

It is unilateral actions like these without an official policy guideline
that is worrying. Which brings me to the reason why I'm writing this note.

Again I ask:-

1. If Telcos in Kenya decide to behave the same way what is our recourse?
Remember Airtel is active here too.

2. What is our official government (People of Kenya) position on Net
Neutrality. This an issue that CANNOT be wished away and we urge policy
makers to come out strongly on this issue. By the way positions like these
will mean that not every one is happy about what that Position will be but
at least we will have a guideline.


*Ali Hussein*





Tel: +254 770 906375/ 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>

Blog: www.alyhussein.com


Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely
mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the
organizations that I work with.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20150109/36ca5ffb/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: CS NN_STATEMENT.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 92542 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20150109/36ca5ffb/attachment.pdf>