[kictanet] Draft National ICT Policy Discussions Day 4 of 10: How to enhance Universal Service & Access

[Walubengo J]

@Barrack,
my 2cents on this.*Universal Access (infrastructure); we must crack the shared infrastructure thing. All operators know it is silly to dig across the road, only for the competitor come over the following week do re-dig over the same road as they lay cable. Unfortunately this policy issue goes beyond ICT and the Road/Public works and County Gov must be willing to participate/enforce this.  For some of them, the more roads being dug the more money the get :-(
*Affordable Services.Theory says that if the cost of infrastructure goes down (e.g through sharing), then the cost/price to the consumer will drop - at least in a competitive environment. But competition in contemporary digital services is complex, dynamic and continues to evolve. 
For example, are mobile operators competing with other operators or they are competing with Banks and Broadcasters(TV, Radio Stations)? Perhaps the correct answer is that mobile operators simultaneously compete and cooperate with all of the above.  We perhaps need new  approaches to effectively deal with pricing of communication services since competition alone wont bring down prices.
*Persons with Disabilities (PWD). Very few TV stations have sign-language speakers. Most government websites have no provision/options for the blind and deaf. I think we need a specific policy statement on this so that effort/funds can be subsequently allocated for those who are challenged one way or the other. In developed economies, you find traffic lights designed to be 'seen'(heard) by the blind. That might be V2030 for us but we need to start seeing evidence of this in government documents.
*Public eLiteracy:Currently most utilities (Power, Water, LandRates, Parking, etc) have adopted electronic mode of payment. I have to travel 400Km away from Nairobi to upgrade my Dads e-Skills on this so that he can continue to execute these tasks. These new services are convenient, but we must make provision for what the developed countries call continuous learning.  Lets make (budgetery) provision for local tertiary institutions to increase our eLiteracy rates.  I heard someone say we use Universal Service Funds, but others argue that one should  not access funds they never contributed to...either way this needs to be sorted.
walu. 


      From: Barrack Otieno via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 To: jwalu at yahoo.com 
Cc: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com>
 Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 7:43 AM
 Subject: [kictanet] Draft National ICT Policy Discussions Day 4 of 10: How to enhance Universal Service & Access
   
Listers,

We inadvertently skipped the day 4 discussion since it was to be done
over the weekend (Saturday 25 June 2016). As such we will back track
so that we can tackle the topics which are very important.

Today we focus on the following topics

*Universal Access (Infrastructure)

*Universal Service (PWD)

*Affordable Internet broadband Services

*Affordable User Devices

*Public e-Literacy

The Background
Universal service principles are based on the fact that all citizens
are entitled to basic communication rights.  In other words, the
government is obliged to ensure that communication signals reach all
Kenyans, irrespective of their income levels, remote localities, lack
of (e)literacy and/or disabilities (e.g. the blind/deaf/etc).

There was recent access-gap study commissioned by the regulator which
confirmed that a large number of Kenyan localities are underserved
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/3155384/-/l3vdw8z/-/index.html.

How can we change the situation?

Thank you


-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
+254721325277
+254733206359
Skype: barrack.otieno
PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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