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<div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I think the CA Unified Licensing regime is obsolete and out of touch with modern realities (e.g. net neutrality, anti-trust and power concentration concerns) and would urge CA to seriously consider modernizing it.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">From a public interest perspective, granting Safaricom a broadcast license will be a *major strategic blunder* imo as it will potentially create huge headaches later on for Gov, should the need arise to clip Safaricom's powers in public interest. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Governments elsewhere (e.g. US/Europe) are grappling with similar issues where ICT firms that were once celebrated national prides & darlings have transformed into powerful monopolistic ogres that destroy jobs, stifle innovation and destabilise the country (yet can't be easily towed back to line).</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Concentration of power into corporations is a major emerging concern globally (some are literally taking over governments behind the scenes and corrupting democracies for example). </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Closer to home, Safaricom already has several "power pieces" in place that could potentially evolve into a messy regulatory quagmire for GoK.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">1. As a dominant communication & data pipe, their uptime/downtime has a crucial impact on public well being and national security.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">2. They have an increasingly concentrated grip on kadogo economy thru MPESA. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">3. They want to do "everything" (comms, data pipe, content, health apps, agri apps, edu apps, media, cctv, ewallets etc) and they don't shy away from using their market power and resources to create an uneven playing that stifles startups and innovators. This has, imo, resulted in a choked "silicon savannah" ecosystem that has failed to take off, denying the country billions in FDI, limiting jobs creation and lowering Kenya's status as a viable innovations hub.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Microsoft in the 90s was caught making similar power moves and if they were not regulated via an anti-trust clampdown, tiny briefcase startups like Google would not have had a chance to grow. Clipping Microsoft resulted in a *bigger pie* and led to significantly more revenue for the US government. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Is it really plausible that one company can have total monopoly on ICT innovations, at scale, in the entire country (or is there a trail of local innovators who are casualties to giant copycat moves)? The argument that regulating and limiting Safaricom will be bad for the economy is *false* imo. It fails to look at the ecosystem gains. The overall pie will grow and everyone, including Safaricom and GoK will gain (as happened with Microsoft & US Gov)!</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">https://qz.com/1317231/what-the-microsoft-antitrust-case-can-teach-us-about-regulating-big-tech/amp/</span></font><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">3. With GoK heavy reliance on Safaricom as the *only" profitable telecomms company that is a top taxpayer, the exchequer has placed all its eggs in one basket, which is very risky and unwise. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is an adage that rings true in capitalist markets (because boom bust cycles are *guaranteed* over time, because thats just how capitalism works).<br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There is no company in this world that is immune to boom-bust cycles, failure or natural/manmade disasters (including sudden catastrophic failure like what happened to former retail superstars Nakumatt & Uchumi - taking down thousands of dependent ecosystem businesses with them and destabilising the entire sector). </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This lack of sector profits / tax diversity is a ticking time bomb for GoK. It is one reason advanced economies value sector diversity and create room for startups to grow into big companies without being stifled by dominant players.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">From a national security perspective, Safaricom's grip on multiple sectors make it a risky *concentrated target* (e.g. for espionage, cyber-attack or terror attacks) with major consequences for the gov, public and economy in general. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">All these make Safaricom a *high-risk single point of failure* IMO with very limited fallback options, which is really *not* strategically ideal if you want a shock-resilient economy. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A default consequence, at the very least, should be a statutory requirement for high risk dominant firms to demonstrate national-level disaster preparedness and resilience (with independent quarterly audits & certification for continuity and resilience).<br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Anti trust actions should be considered as well to give "Silicon Savannah" startups a chance. Separate the 'pipe" providers, infrastructure providers and content/app providers to build resilience and create a conducive atmosphere for the overall pie to grow. </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Hopefully this shows how dominance is a real problem, even when it is not abused.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Good day,</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Patrick.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br></div>
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On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, 1:25:32 AM GMT+3, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
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<div><div id="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086"><div dir="ltr"><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;">L</span><font face="georgia, serif">isters</font></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#000000">What gives? 3 years to get a license? What is going on?</font></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#000000">Safaricom says it will seek answers from the telecoms regulator over the three-year delay in issuance of its digital broadcast licence, chief executive Bob Collymore has said.<br></font></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default"><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;"><p style="margin:0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#000000">The telco is seeking to venture into commercial free-to-air television services as part of triple-play offering plan–TV, internet and fixed line telephone services – to homes.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/companies/Safaricom-renews-push-for-digital-broadcast-licence/4003102-4837176-15nhi1nz/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read on </a></font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;"><font face="georgia, serif">I thought Kenya adopted a </font><a href="https://www.bowmanslaw.com/insights/technology-media-and-telecommunications/telecom-regulation-kenya-introduces-a-unified-licensing-framework/" style="font-family:georgia, serif;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Unified License Regime</a> <font face="georgia, serif">way back when... What happened to this? </font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;"><font face="georgia, serif">Can the regulator please inform Kenyans what exactly is holding up Safaricom's license? I'm not holding brief for Safaricom but I think this is a public interest issue. </font></p></div></div><div class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><b><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Ali
Hussein</font></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><b><font face="georgia, serif" size="2">Principal</font></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="georgia, serif" size="2"><b>AHK & Associates</b></font></p><font size="2">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span>T<font size="2">el: +254 713 60<font size="2">1113</font></font><br></span></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span>Twitter: @AliHKassim</span><span></span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;">
</span></font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span>Skype: abu-jomo</span></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span>LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a></span><a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;"></span></a></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><br></span></font></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black;">13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,</span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:arial;"></span></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black;">Chiromo Road, Westlands,</span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:arial;"></span></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black;">Nairobi, Kenya.</span></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia, serif;"><span><br><font size="1">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.</font></span></span></font><span style="font-family:Old;font-size:11pt;"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;"></span>
<span style="font-family:Old;"></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><img style="display:none!important;" height="1" width="1" class="ydpcf0597acyiv7039071086ycb0586542964"></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>kictanet mailing list<br><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a><br>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/kictanet" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/kictanet</a><br>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/</a><br>Domain Registration sponsored by www.eacdirectory.co.ke<br><br>Unsubscribe or change your options at <a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pmaina2000%40yahoo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pmaina2000%40yahoo.com</a><br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br></div>
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