[kictanet] Fw: DRAFT ICT POLICY 2016 LINK-KICTAnet Stakeholder Input

Wed Jun 22 10:37:17 EAT 2016

Walu and all

My contribution:-

1. Bandwidth capacity increased from 847k Mbps to 1.5m Mbps yet the utilization ratio decreased from 58.7% to 55.1%. It would have been interesting to understand what occasioned the drop in utilization? Lessons learnt? Pricing? Accessibility?

2. Broadband subscriptions increased from 4.2 million to 7.1m. This is commendable. A more detailed penetration review by county would be very helpful. It would help some of the counties understand why they are lagging behind in the adoption of ICTs. Even if this is too detailed for the Policy Document a link to a more detailed study would be very helpful. This could then be presented to Governors in a sort of report probably named:-
'The State of ICTs in the Counties' 

3. The performance or utilization of the National Optic Fibre Backbone (NOFBI) must be brought into review. According to the ICT Authority website:-

The ICT Authority is implementing Phase 11 of the National Fibre Optic cable. The construction begun in September 2014 and is expected to be complete by June 2016. The second phase will build 1,600KM of fiber linking all the 47 county headquarters and an additional 500KM dedicated for military use. This is in addition to the existing 4,300KM of NOFBI I completed in 2009. NOFBI phase1passes 58 towns in 35 counties
To date:

1200Km out of the 1600KM civil works are completed.
900Km of fibre has been laid in the backbone section.
The backbone section is now complete and fibre installed in all the 47 counties (Kajiado County fibre in NOFBI I was damaged by road construction) and capacity to connect Kajiado County HQ will be sourced from other operators whose fibre is along the power line to Namanga
Metropolitan fibre civil works has been completed in 35 of 47 counties.
NOFBI Phase 1 is already in use in the national government, Telkom, Safaricom, Jamii Telecom and KENET utilizing more than 3,000KM of the cable. The operations and maintenance of NOFBI Phase 1 is being handled by Telkom.

Read more:-

http://www.icta.go.ke/national-optic-fibre-backbone-nofbi/

This is absolutely commendable. We must now move to the next stage of critical evaluation of this Critical Infrastructure.  

a) What are the learnings? 

b) What could we have done better? 

c) What are the bottlenecks to last mile connectivity? 

d) Why haven't our connectivity costs reduced considering that most of the telcos are using this backbone which is a national resource? 

We are stepping on the shoulders of giants who envisioned this resource for the country. We must make absolutely sure that we squeeze every ounce of the advantage it has given us.

e) Why are we not in the top 50 global internet penetration rankings? Make no mistake about it. Our competition is not Africa. It is global.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/top25.htm

4. A review of the ICT Start-up ecosystem is totally lacking in this policy document. It is imperative that we do a deep dive of this ecosystem and ensure that private and public/government efforts are aligned. Totally. It is nonsensical to think that this sector will become world class without private, public and government working in tandem. Some of the areas to look into:-
a) Capacity building for entrepreneurs
b) A regulatory environment that is super conducive to the ecosystem while protecting the public good.
c) Access to markets outside the country
d) Access to cheap capital.

5. The Universal Service Access Fund is a commendable initiative but too often there hasn't been much information on the impact the critical resource is having. My suggestion would be to have an interactive real time map showing its impact and why certain regions are chosen to receive its largess and not others. This should be linked with Infrastructure sharing and last mile strategies to provide connectivity from the NOFBI. 

6. WayLeaves. There has to be robust engagement with counties to ensure that ISPs and Telcos are not held to ransom by short term county revenue hunting at the expense of spreading ubiquitous broadband connectivity. This is so critical that a clear strategy paper needs to be put together by all stakeholders to guarantee its implementation.

7. What are the roadblocks that hinder us from achieving universal broadband connectivity?

8. Mobile Money and the new reality of Blockchain Technology. Let's not beat about the bush here. The very leadership position that has been achieved by our adaption of Mobile Money is at risk by burying our heads in the sand when it comes to Blockchain Technology. Kenya, and Africa are again at risk of being left behind. No other than the Governor of the Central Bank is on record saying that we shall wait and see what the west does before jumping in. I respect the man alot but I think engagement with the nascent Fintech space in Nairobi together with the ICT Ministry is long overdue. We MUST chart our own path - And it needs to be a pioneering path not a follower path. We need a clear policy statement from the ICT Ministry on this. 

Time for pussyfooting around is over.

9.  Science, Technology and Innovation. The importance of this cannot be gainsaid.  Beyond the policy statements the Ministry needs to articulate achievements in this area over the last 10 years, lessons learnt and clear way forward. 

The mash up (no pun intended) of higher learning institutions, hubs, incubators, accelerators and businesses need to be prioritized to achieve true breakthroughs.

10. Gaming and application development. How can we replicate the success of such local content as Papa Shimanyula, Mother in Law etc online. What happened to once popular Ma3Racer, which at its height was downloaded in 200 countries. What are the lessons learnt?

11. Postal and Courier Services. What needs to be done to enthuse a more vibrant and profitable postal service? The CS has just appointed a new board to this beleaguered giant. He needs all our support to ensure its success. At the same time the government needs to be absolutely ruthless in its mandate of ensuring management deliver on its promises. 

New comers in this space also require policy support as the postal service cannot by itself achieve the requirements of an economy that is increasingly digital. 

Great move on enumerating where we are on the establishment of a National Addressing System and the recent launch of mPost. How can the government collaborate with private sector initiatives like OkHi? How can we avoid duplication? 

12. Consumer Protection. The Consumer Protection Act of 2012 gives us a good foundation. What can the ICT Ministry and stakeholders in the sector contribute to enhance this act in this new digital dispensation?

13. Cyber Security. Too often governments the world over use this blanket term to spy and infringe on the rights of citizens. This is a delicate balancing act which requires all players to work with utmost good faith in ensuring that our digital resources are safe from those who would want to take them away from us. 

Did I miss the part on Privacy Protection in this policy document? 

14. Human Resource Development and Training. The policy document mentions the Establishment of ICT Centers of Excellence. I propose the government goes one step further and Establish The Kenya Institutes of Technology fashioned around the Indian Institutes of Technology. 

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as institutions of national importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance etc.

15. Knowledge Economy. Great improvement to the policy document here. Commendable to actually spell out the difference facets of this sector. My only disappointment here is that the document mentions eServices like health and agriculture but conspicuously misses out Finance? I'm curious why? Seeing as this is the one sector that we actually stand to have the best competitive advantage due to the uptake of mobile money in this country. This is an obvious glaring oversight.

16. New Innovations and services in ICT. Great section. Very bold. Now to its implementation.

17.  eGoverment. It cannot be gainsaid the strides this country has made in this area. Kudos to all who have played a role in it. We now must move to the next level and beat Estonia, which is the leading digital government in the world.

18. Policy, legal and regulatory framework. Here, a lot of work needs to be done. Often times ministries and government departments work at cross-purposes and seem at odds with each other. Can the ICT Ministry champion a Common Purpose Task Force with the help of the AG's office to smooth over diverse views and vested interests? ICT is the thread that molds the nation and the Ministry MUST take its rightful place in the scheme of things. For example:-

Before the Film classification board makes comments on OTT they could consult the ICT Ministry or the Central Bank makes comments on Blockchains they could do the same? 

We appreciate the role regulators play in an economy. What we would like to see is for them to be equipped for Regulation in the 22nd Century as opposed to using regulation tools fit for the era of The Robber Barons (early 1900s) or that of Alexander Graham Bell (mid 1800s).   

Bottom line? A well thought out Policy document that requires a few tweaks and more importantly -  EXECUTION.

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

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

"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 20 Jun 2016, at 3:25 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
> 
> Dear Listers,
> 
> 
> The Ministry of ICT (PS V. Kyalo) has asked KICTAnet to ran a two week moderated discussion on the Draft ICT Policy 2016, that will replace the current 2006 ICT Policy.
> 
> 
> Please download and go through in preparation of the online discussions scheduled to kick-off this wednesday 22nd June 2016.
> 
> You views will be consolidated and later on you will be invited to validated the same at a face-to-face session to be confirmed at a venue and date to be confirmed later.
> 
> Kazi kwenyu. Do not say you were not consulted :-)
> 
> Best rgds.
> 
> walu.
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> Dear All,
> 
> The Draft ICT Policy 2016 has been posted in the MoICT website for stakeholders comments.  Please use the link below to access the document.
> 
> http://www.information.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Draft-National-ICT-Policy-20June2016.pdf
>  
> Kind regards,
> Jane W. Migwi
> Administrative Secretary
> National Communications Secretariat
> P.O. Box 10756-00100, NBI
> Tel: +254-20-2719953 / +254-20-2713429
> Fax: +254-20-2716515
> Cell:  0721 850 561
>  
>  
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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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.
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