April 2016 - KICTANet

3rd Devolution Conference, Meru County - 19th - 23rd April 2016
by Grace Githaiga 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

Listers A positive step: an ICT section is included in the program on day 4. RgdsGrace

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Re: [kictanet] Fw: Public Notice on Public Consultations on Sector Regulations
by WANGARI KABIRU 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

Warm Greetings, This is also a pointer to the community that "the ear is not really yet on the ground" which is actually catastrophic. However, many inroads have been made in expanding the networks and this becomes one of them now. For now, hopefully Rachel Alwala is graciously on and may keep all actively posted and receive feedback. Until she perhaps moves on to another post. No one hyped about the Assistive Features PLWD from the dailies (print or digital or other sources). It might not be as inviting as the online event circulated . Have a blessed day. Regards/Wangari --- Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth". -------------------------------------------- On Mon, 18/4/16, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fw: Public Notice on Public Consultations on Sector Regulations To: wangarikabiru(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: "Ali Hussein" <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> Date: Monday, 18 April, 2016, 9:35 Hear Hear.. Ali HusseinPrincipalHussein & Associates Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomoLinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim 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. On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 7:53 AM, Ngigi Waithaka via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Walu, This on a Friday, for a meeting scheduled following Monday? In this case I want to "...shoot-the-messenger..."; should not be part of these schemes to disenfranchise the public. How about we put rules in this forum, where any public notice that is less than 2 weeks is given the contempt it deserves... Rgds On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 12:31 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Lister, CA has public consultations this coming Monday 18th April at Laico Regency Nairobi form 8:00AM As attached below, plse make time to attend and contribute. Do not wait to complain later that you were not consulted - typical Kenyan move :-) walu ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "Alwala, Rachel" <Alwala(a)ca.go.ke> To: "jwalu(a)yahoo.com" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 12:27 PM Subject: Public Notice on Public Consultations on Sector Regulations Dear Walu, As agreed, please post this on the KICTANET list and remember to facilitate my address back. Thank you. Rachel _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigi%40at.co.ke 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. 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. -- Regards, Waithaka NgigiChief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod BuildingT +254 20 525 0750 |Office Mobile: +254 716 201061 | M +254 737 811 000 www.at.co.ke _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com 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. 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. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wangarikabiru%40yahoo… 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. 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.

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Re: [kictanet] Public Notice calling for Comments on Draft Specs for Set Top Boxes and IDTVs with Assistive features for PWDs
by WANGARI KABIRU 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bukolas-story-one-too-many-mothers-aduragbem… Happy Monday, Following Bukola's story reminds me that prevention is better than cure. As the assistive features are deliberated upon, some and perhaps many of the disability cases may be preventable at birth. May the deliberations feed-forward too into prevention rather than reactive mode, even if this is not a medical convention. The goal should be "no-need for assistive devices for a generation to come". PS: An illustration of what makes "Digi", complex to an "analogue-ish" public The email address provided to give feedback is too complex for ease of use! with hyphens, short forms. Have insightful deliberations, feedback and feed-forward. Blessed day. Regards/Wangari --- Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth". -------------------------------------------- On Sun, 17/4/16, Alwala, Rachel via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Subject: [kictanet] Public Notice calling for Comments on Draft Specs for Set Top Boxes and IDTVs with Assistive features for PWDs To: wangarikabiru(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: "Alwala, Rachel" <Alwala(a)ca.go.ke> Date: Sunday, 17 April, 2016, 23:29 Dear listers, Kindly note the public notice inviting the public to comments on the draft specifications for the DVBT2 Set top Boxes and Integrated Digital TV sets that have assistive devices for People with Disabilities. Forwarded for your reference, necessary inputs and sharing of this information with your constituents. Regards, Rachel Alwala Assistant Director/Communications and External Affairs Communications Authority of Kenya PO Box 14448 Nairobi 00800 Tel: +254 703 042000 Email: alwala(a)ca.go.ke Website: www.ca.go.ke -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wangarikabiru%40yahoo… 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. 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.

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Public Notice calling for Comments on Draft Specs for Set Top Boxes and IDTVs with Assistive features for PWDs
by Alwala, Rachel 17 Apr '16

17 Apr '16

Dear listers, Kindly note the public notice inviting the public to comments on the draft specifications for the DVBT2 Set top Boxes and Integrated Digital TV sets that have assistive devices for People with Disabilities. Forwarded for your reference, necessary inputs and sharing of this information with your constituents. Regards, Rachel Alwala Assistant Director/Communications and External Affairs Communications Authority of Kenya PO Box 14448 Nairobi 00800 Tel: +254 703 042000 Email: alwala(a)ca.go.ke Website: www.ca.go.ke

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Fwd: [IGFmaglist] IGF 2016 Call for Workshop Proposals
by Judy Okite 15 Apr '16

15 Apr '16

*'Chance Favors the prepared mind'* - Louis Pasteur for your information and action. Kind Regards, ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chengetai Masango <cmasango(a)unog.ch> Date: Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 9:16 PM Subject: [IGFmaglist] IGF 2016 Call for Workshop Proposals To: IGF Maglist <Igfmaglist(a)intgovforum.org> Dear All, The IGF Secretariat has published the Call for workshop proposals at: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/igf16-workshops The deadline to submit a proposal is *6 June 2016.* I would be grateful if you could all kindly publicize the call through your respective stakeholder networks. Best regards Chengetai _______________________________________________ Igfmaglist mailing list Igfmaglist(a)intgovforum.org http://intgovforum.org/mailman/listinfo/igfmaglist_intgovforum.org

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 33
by DRAKE (Domain Registrars Association of Kenya) 15 Apr '16

15 Apr '16

Afternoon Michael, I'm glad we have supporters. What's your .KE? To your questions: 1. DNSSEC rolled out yet? Nope. Resolving team capacity and should roll out in the next Quarter. Abdalla - CEO can comment on exact modalities for this 2. Frequent Kenic outages - April 2015 still fresh in memory, and erodes confidence in technical capacity. Moved servers to EADC. We do listen..You're welcome 3. "Political stability" around the board of Kenic seems lacking. What Board Stability? Have you met us?- Kris Senanu(Chair), Kariba Moko(.KE Ambassador), Evans Kahuthu(Vice Chair), Rosemary Momanyi(Versatile Marketing mind), Prof Meoli Kashoda (Voice of Wisdom), Enid Otieno(Audit)...The dream team is here! Let's make it 1 Million! List, I shared a draft working plan on our bigger agenda(Attached). Any luck on a think-tank reaction to our vision? We are really keen to engage and grow the .KE Brand in numbers and perception Regards Kariba - DRAKE -----Original Message----- From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+info=drake.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 12:41 PM To: DRAKE (Domain Registrars Association of Kenya) Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 33 Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 26 (Branton Obwari) 2. Fw: Public Notice on Public Consultations on Sector Regulations (Walubengo J) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:05:57 +0300 From: Branton Obwari <bruceobwari(a)gmail.com> To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 26 Message-ID: <CAHYBea0Rjpw3g0__xVUhtVMQ1D-ZtD+ckHFGnu4Mbg_s96p0OA(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Tween4 r4g On 14 Apr 2016 01:42, "Michael Pedersen via kictanet" < kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > Hi Kariba & List, > > Personally I am a fan of .ke domains - that said there are room for > improvement: > > 1. DNSSEC rolled out yet ? > > 2. Frequent Kenic outages - April 2015 still fresh in memory, and > erodes confidence in technical capacity. > > 3. "Political stability" around the board of Kenic seems lacking. > > .. > Mike > > > On 4/14/16 1:15 AM, DRAKE (Domain Registrars Association of Kenya) via > kictanet wrote: > >> Thanks Waudo, >> To your question. How do I see .ke being impacted by the new gTLDs? >> The answer is purely on value. Right now the user is key because >> there's variety. >> We asked a while back. Why does the Kenyan developer prefer .com >> .tech .consultant .insertnewTLD over .KE Here are some responses and >> how we've dealt with them 1. Price - Implemented RRP at 1,000 bob >> which all DRAKE members have implemented 2. Purchase procedure - >> Automation deployed. Current/ New registrars benefit from support by >> the DRAKE technical team that assists at KENIC should the need arise >> 3. Security - your .KE will NOT be taken down! (Terms and XXX apply). >> And yes before you quote www.isuhuruinkenya.co.ke I wish to say that >> was purely a registrar issue and we resolved the same. Actually as a >> .KE owner if you don't have dashboard access to your domain do let us >> know. >> 4. Market - #weareke campaign which launched in 2015 goes bigger and >> better this year. Focussing on Awareness, Demystification and >> conversion. >> >> A product is only as good as its need and we hope that all this steps >> will boost the tech communities trust in their own brand and will >> help us build it. >> We've ridden on a nationalistic approach and that's gotten us to 56,000. >> We >> hope based on continuous value addition we'll get to 1,000,000 >> 1,000,000 means: >> - 10,000 Jobs >> - GDP relevance >> - Bottom tier empowerment >> >> >> Regards >> >> Kariba >> >> >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bruceobwari%40gm > ail.com > > 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. > > 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. >

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 26
by DRAKE (Domain Registrars Association of Kenya) 14 Apr '16

14 Apr '16

Thanks Waudo, To your question. How do I see .ke being impacted by the new gTLDs? The answer is purely on value. Right now the user is key because there's variety. We asked a while back. Why does the Kenyan developer prefer .com .tech .consultant .insertnewTLD over .KE Here are some responses and how we've dealt with them 1. Price - Implemented RRP at 1,000 bob which all DRAKE members have implemented 2. Purchase procedure - Automation deployed. Current/ New registrars benefit from support by the DRAKE technical team that assists at KENIC should the need arise 3. Security - your .KE will NOT be taken down! (Terms and XXX apply). And yes before you quote www.isuhuruinkenya.co.ke I wish to say that was purely a registrar issue and we resolved the same. Actually as a .KE owner if you don't have dashboard access to your domain do let us know. 4. Market - #weareke campaign which launched in 2015 goes bigger and better this year. Focussing on Awareness, Demystification and conversion. A product is only as good as its need and we hope that all this steps will boost the tech communities trust in their own brand and will help us build it. We've ridden on a nationalistic approach and that's gotten us to 56,000. We hope based on continuous value addition we'll get to 1,000,000 1,000,000 means: - 10,000 Jobs - GDP relevance - Bottom tier empowerment Regards Kariba -----Original Message----- From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+info=drake.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 9:31 AM To: DRAKE (Domain Registrars Association of Kenya) Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 107, Issue 26 Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: DRAKE Agenda: The 30Billion .KE Ecosystem (waudo siganga) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2016 09:20:57 +0300 From: waudo siganga <emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> To: DRAKE <info(a)drake.or.ke>, KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] DRAKE Agenda: The 30Billion .KE Ecosystem Message-ID: <1460528457.3588615.577209057.72041B14(a)webmail.messagingengine.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Thanks for the update Kariba. Indeed I remember well Dec 31, 1999 well when I went to hide in a mud hut overnight after we had been convinced that everything, including multi-story buildings, was going to collapse! I remember there was a national emergency response centre at Hilton Hotel to coordinate anticipated things like the bursting of Masinga dam, lifts getting stuck and traffic lights going haywire. Wishing you well on the .ke journey. How do you?see .ke being impacted by the new gTLDs? Waudo On Wed, Apr 13, 2016, at 08:49 AM, DRAKE via kictanet wrote: > View this email in your browser[1] > Achieving the Kshs. 30 Billion Ecosystem Hallo and welcome to the > Internet of things! The year is 1999 and the world is going to > end!..or so it seemed. A lot has changed since 1999 and so has our > agenda as the Domain Registrars Association of Kenya (DRAKE). We aim > to grow the .KE ecosystem through the multi- stakeholder framework > legally known as KENIC.[2] > > In 2017, The National Broadband strategy[3] will lapse and with our hardwork 1,000,000 + domains should have been registered. DRAKE has been formulating the .KE Ecosytem[4] and building a roadmap towards achieving a Kshs. 30Billion Ecosystem through value addition from the bottom up. In 2014, we kicked off the .KE automation drive that saw all our members adopt a click and pay approach to domain purchases. In 2015, through KENIC we saw the launch of #weareke a national brand awareness campaign. > > What Next? > A million domains is no small feat,it needs a collective approach. > We've broken down our engagement segments as below: > 1. Fund - Partner with DRAKE > 2. Community - Engage with DRAKE > 3. Government - Rollout with DRAKE > 4. Technology - Grow with DRAKE > DRAKE's relevance to date would not be possible without our heroes and > as such we appreciate the continuous support of: > 1. *Cabinet Secretary - Joe Mucheru*, Permanent Secretaries - Victor > Kyalo & Sammy Itemere, Our Ambassadors at Government. > 2. *Michael Katundu* - An unsung hero of ICT in Kenya and a key DRAKE > champion. > 3. *Joe Sevilla - *Strathmore University's IBiz Hub is not only *The > Home of the DRAKE *but also our testbed for startup inclusion in > the .KE Ecosystem. For more on our evolving agenda, talk to us and > let's Build .KE Together! > > Kariba Moko - DRAKE Chair > ICT CS Joe Mucheru Mr. Michael Katundu Joe Sevilla (Left) *Copyright > ? 2016 DRAKE, All rights reserved.* > This email is sent to all domain registrars in Kenya > > Our mailing address is: > DRAKE > 59857 > Ibiz Africa Hub, 5th Floor Student Center, Strathmore University > Madaraka Estate, Ole Sangale Road Nairobi 00200 Kenya > > Add us to your address book[5] > > > Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences[6] or unsubscribe from this list[7] > > Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp > _________________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/emailsignet%40ma > ilcan.com > > 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. > > 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. Links: 1. http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&id=8bfd2438b3 &e=bcd7b58a17 2. http://drake.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&id =6e6792dc93&e=bcd7b58a17 3. http://drake.us10.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&i d=9304b20073&e=bcd7b58a17 4. http://drake.us10.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&i d=1a5268a908&e=bcd7b58a17 5. http://drake.us10.list-manage1.com/vcard?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&id=4e75 e5610b 6. http://drake.us10.list-manage.com/profile?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&id=4e7 5e5610b&e=bcd7b58a17 7. http://drake.us10.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=f12adc82116eb3f0918f939db&i d=4e75e5610b&e=bcd7b58a17&c=8bfd2438b3

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East Africa Cloud Summit
by Tonny K. Omwansa 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

Dear KICTANet listers University of Nairobi through the Innovation Hub (C4DLab) housed at the Chiromo Campus will host the first East Africa Cloud Summit as part of the effort to grow levels of awareness, enhance discussions on policy and expose consumers to cloud solutions available and the impact in various subsectors like education, healthcare, SMEs, Innovation etc. Dates are 21st and 22nd April. If interested you can get more information at www.eacloudsummit.com including registration to participate. Best Dr. Tonny Omwansa

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Invitation: ICT Policy Database Launch
by Mose Karanja 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

Hello KICTANet listers, CIPIT, based at Strathmore Law School has been working on an ICT policy database for Africa. This involves relevant legal documents with a direct impact on the ICT ecosystem from constitutions, Acts of parliament, regulations among others. The database also opens the conversion on technical capacity for public participation in shaping future policies. We have scheduled a public launch on 28 April from 2 - 5PM at Strathmore University, Madaraka, Nairobi. Kindly RSVP here: cipit.eventbrite.com <http://cipit.eventbrite.com/> and we look forward to hosting you! Moses. --- Moses Karanja | @Mose_Karanja <https://twitter.com/Mose_Karanja> | PGP: 0x1529552F <https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=index&fingerprint=on&search=0x1529552F>

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Fwd: [Internet Policy] Universal service fund in the U.S. has failed badly. Despite $billions, U.S. has close to the worst coverage in the developed world.
by Barrack Otieno 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

Listers, In light of Walu's write up on Universal Access, this might provide an interesting comparison. Thank you Best Regards ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dave Burstein <daveb(a)dslprime.com> Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2016 02:48:29 -0400 Subject: [Internet Policy] Universal service fund in the U.S. has failed badly. Despite $billions, U.S. has close to the worst coverage in the developed world. To: Richard Hill <rhill(a)hill-a.ch>, "internetpolicy(a)elists.isoc.org" <internetpolicy(a)elists.isoc.org>, Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty(a)gmail.com> Folks I changed the subject to avoid getting entangled in the debate about the particular report and focus on the issue of achieving access. Based on the U.S. experience, I believe USF funding is inefficient at best. The U.S. has about 5M homes that can't get landline broadband despite $7B in our stimulus and billions more over the years in Universal Service money. (FCC data) That's 7-10X the unserved rate in much of Western Europe.The greater land area is only a partial explanation. See the work of Professors Rosston and Hazlett as well as Scott Wallsten, who was chief economist of our broadband plan. I did two workshops for our Broadband Plan. I don't have depth on the issues in other countries but what I know suggests USF isn't performing well most places. I believe the Kurth Solution, named after the German regulator, is strongly preferable. Unserved rural areas by their nature are scattered and have limited local infrastructure. In most places, only the incumbent has the local facilities and backhaul required to serve the area at competitive cost. This became obvious when almost none of the applications for our broadband stimulus were from new entrants looking to connect the unserved, although that was the primary goal of the funding. The result was that the local phone company could and did claim their costs were far higher than they needed to be. Add on the political power of the phone companies (regulatory capture) and the system is spending what I estimate is easily twice what an efficient subsidy would be. (Limited hard data.) Kurth in Germany covered most of the "white spaces on the map" at a much lower cost. In a spectrum auction, the carriers were required to cover white spaces before they use the spectrum in the big cities. While the companies could reduce their bids, WIK Consulting told me the impact was very small. Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom, spending their own money covered those small towns rapidly and what I believe was far less than any USF subsidy would have been. LTE speeds are now 50-100 megabits, enough for most purposes. The caps on the rural wireless were much too low but technology is rapidly improving that. Today's LTE gear has 3-4X the capacity of the earlier systems, mostly through carrier aggregation. More advanced MIMO and MU MIMO are likely to deliver 10X the current capacity in the next few years, according to leading wireless experts such as Stanford's Paulraj. That will allow raising the cap to perhaps 100-150 gigabytes/month, probably with unlimited access nights and mornings. Portugal and others are working with a similar system. ---------------------------------- Unless you have a plan to educate the regulator and enforce reasonable pricing in USF, I think the plans are somewhere between overly expensive or ridiculous. The U.S. couldn't do it despite major efforts since the Broadband plan. The "Kurth Solution" - indirect competitive bidding as part of the spectrum auction, seems to work well. It's not the only alternative. Australia is building a National Broadband Network for everyone. Unfortunately, the cost has gotten out of hand, as so often happens with government projects. India may have a better idea; the government is extending fiber to 10's of thousands of small towns with the expectation private or cooperative efforts can deploy the last mile. The backhaul costs are often the largest expense in rural service. They require so much capital few but the largest companies can finance backhaul. With mobile phones and WiFi gear now under $50, local businesses or munis can connect to that fiber and serve the area with a small investment. This is very promising, although political entanglement has drastically slowed construction. Some government projects work well (China), others we know are unsuccessful. ------------------------------- Satellite has become much more attractive than before. Mark Dankberg, Viasat CEO, told our broadband plan today's satellites have an order of magnitude more capacity and reduce latency by half. (They haven't solved the 22,000 mile distance but improving the routers and caching apparently makes a huge difference.) No politician would admit it, but the assumption in the U.S. plan was satellite for the last 1%. All current Universal access programs may have become obsolete on December 21, The Falcon 9 successfully launched a constellation of 11 Orbcomm-OG2 second-generation Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. The first stage returned to Cape Canaveral successfully, which Elon Musk's company says will reduce costs by about 30%. The first two sea landings failed but April 8, 2016, Falcon 9 Flight 23 successfully landed a 1st stage booster on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. Low Orbit satellites solve the latency problem but still have a way to go. Small, inexpensive tracking antennas need to be developed. An engineer I respect has studied the problems and expects LEO sats will be the way to go in a few years. Facebook's drones will probably never be cost-effective just serving extreme rural areas, I believe; I'm anticipating they will need urban customers to cover the costs. Their engineers may be good but the head of the project didn't know the facts on the ground. I haven't researched it but I expect the rapidly dropping costs of LTE will be much less than the drone network. I would guess the same about Google's balloons but the team seems far more knowledgeable. I've bcc'd this to the experts mentioned. I hope they and any others catch any mistakes I have. The above is only about access. I'm very encouraged by the new U.S. Broadband Lifeline, a $9.25/month subsidy for the poor where networks are already in place. Broadband networks are a classic case of high fixed costs/low marginal costs. The marginal cost of adding a customer to an existing large broadband network in America or Europe is $4-8/month. Dave Burstein Editor, Fast Net News, Net Policy News and DSL Prime Author with Jennie Bourne DSL (Wiley) and Web Video: Making It Great, Getting It Noticed (Peachpit) -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno

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