[kictanet] [Your thoughts on local Media coverage of Safaricom's massive downtime?] Concentration risks

Sun Nov 11 16:57:08 EAT 2018

 Well said JB. Glad that we are on the same page!
Patrick.
    On Sunday, November 11, 2018, 2:41:12 PM GMT+3, Ohaga JB via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:  

 Dear Hussein,
On this one, I totally agree with Patrick, this is a quintessential example of what may go wrong when you have a very powerful and definitely dominant player, that single handedly 'runs' about 60% of all media operations in the country through its advertising spends. Considering the political economy of the media, Safaricom is certainly not just dominating the mobile service market, it is also highy influencing (whether actively or passively) what the mainstream media prints or broadcasts.
On the 'freeness of Google and Facebook, I think that you've also adopted an idealistic view. How are those two platforms free exactly? Users are essentially consumers to be sold to companies looking to advertise. This is the reason why their algorithms prioritize some content over others (hence 'freeness' is reduced to their business interests). And even though we are gradually increasing our digital footprint in Kenya, there are loads of places in this country where the mainstream media (radio especially) is the main source of information. Amongst most digital savvy users, news is gotten from social media yes, but then a lot of these guys wait for verification of the same infro they've gotten from social, from the mainstream media. In fact, even on social media, some of the most credible sources of information are posts from verified accounts of mainstream media orgs. This has indeed become even more pressing in view of proliferation of fake news.
My view is that Safaricom needs to be held much more accountable given the kind of power that it holds across our communications and financial sector. It needs to prove that despite it's dominance, it's put mechanisms in place to ensure that as mininal disruption as possible, is experienced to the services that it provides, should a negative eventuality that affects its operations occurs, as it most certainly will.
In my opinion, the market does not always have a solution for everything especially because it's main focus is profit generation. At times, a combination of market forces and interventions in public interest work best for both the businesses and the public.
Regards,JB.
On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 11:34 AM Admin CampusCiti via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Patrick
I completely agree with you on this. However, I have a different solution to this. Local media stopped being the only source of major news today. Many a time news breaks out through bloggers and influencers on social media. The mainstream media is quickly becoming irrelevant as they continue depending on big ad spenders. They should have gone down market long time ago. 
The issue of big media houses pandering to their advertisers is neither new or is it confined to Kenya. To focus on one entity is disingenuous to say the least... 
And by the way there’s nothing like ‘free’ in media. Free is Facebook and Google. And see where that's getting us.. someone must pay the piper brother. If not now then eventually. The bill eventually comes due. No two ways about it.
Regards  

Ali Hussein
+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim

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"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
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On 10 Nov 2018, at 10:09 PM, Patrick A. M. Maina via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

 Is our media truly independent, objective and fearless as they claim - especially when it comes to reporting on their most lucrative customers? Compare to the prominence and coverage of reports on Government website downtime, as well as Huduma downtimes for example... 

My take is, when you have an entity (or group of entities) that the media appears to "fear" or "favor" more than the Government, the potential for impunity and abuse that comes with such power should be of great concern to any regulator. At the very least, it can allow public interest problems (or their impact) to stay under the radar for a long time with a heavy cost to the wider economy.
A healthy (and free) media should have well diversified revenue streams such that there is minimum conflict of interest that is potentially attributable to the concentration of market power. Yet another solid reason (imo) for modernization of our anti-trust regulations.
====I wonder if the CCTVs are affected.. hopefully there is a proper continuity plan in place. 
====As stated in my earlier email just a few days ago, dominant players should be mandated by law to demonstrate adequate provision for continuity and resiliency across all economic sectors where they are active - with independent audits, certification and testing of their BCP, DRP etc - the frequency of which should be aligned with potential severity of downtimes.
====
Have a great weekend!Patrick.

     On Saturday, November 10, 2018, 5:39:15 PM GMT+3, Twahir Hussein Kassim via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:  

 Hannington, kindly brief us on the Dadaab example.

On Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 12:50 Hannington Oduor via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke wrote:

Dadaab refugee camp has a classic example of such a network and bearing it's location and the regulation, it's a potential data resource area. 
On Thu, Nov 8, 2018, 16:39 Twahir Hussein Kassim via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke wrote:

Listers,
Am looking at rolling out a community network in Kilifi. What are the government regulations on this? CA website is silent on this.
Regards,Twahir_______________________________________________
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