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Nomination period for the NRO-NC election from the AfriNIC region now open
by McTim 25 Sep '10

25 Sep '10

Apologies for extensive cross-posting: Dear Colleagues of the AfriNIC Community, It is with great pleasure that the AfriNIC NomCom2010 announces the opening of the nomination period for NRO-NC elections. Nominations will be accepted until 20:00 UTC on 16 October 2010. Appointing representatives from the AfriNIC service region to the NRO-NC (Number Resource Organisation's Number Council) is an important role played by the AfriNIC community. The community will elect individuals through an open and transparent election process in Johannesburg South Africa in November 2010. The NRO-NC election will take place during the second Public Policy Meeting of AfriNIC, which normally takes place during the last week of November of each year. For more details, please see: http://meeting.afrinic.net/afrinic-13/index.php/nro-ncaso-ac-election The appointed candidates will also serve, according to the ASO MoU, on the ASO-AC (Address Supporting Organisation Advisory Council). The Open seat for election will be based on the terms of the elected NRONC/ASO-AC representatives as published on: http://www.nro.net/about/number-council.html and http://aso.icann.org/people/address-council/address-council-members/ The election procedures for the AfriNIC NRO-NC/ASO-AC representatives are as follows: Who can be elected: Every year one member of the community is elected for a term of THREE (3) years to the NRO-NC. The candidate must be a natural person residing in a country within the AfriNIC service region. A person may only nominate ONE candidate. In case of multiple nominations by the same person, only the LAST nomination will be considered valid, and the Nomination Committee will consider the previous nomination(s) as invalid. AfriNIC staff or staff of other RIRs cannot nominate candidates nor be nominated. Self-nominations will be allowed but in such case the nomination must be formally supported by at least two AfriNIC members in good standing. Who can vote: AfriNIC members and any participants from the AfriNIC community present at the face-to-face meeting who meets the following criteria: ‐ have registered for the meeting (Meeting Badge as proof) ‐ resides in a country within AfriNIC service region and ‐ is not an employee of AfriNIC. Ballots for the vote will be distributed at the registration desk prior to the election. Proxy voting: Proxies are not allowed for the NRO-NC election The NomCom looks forward to your active participation. Best Regards, Tim McGinnis Chair NomCom2010

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Re: [kictanet] Wireless, a high or low density solution
by robert yawe 24 Sep '10

24 Sep '10

Hi, We have an infrastructure already existing beneath the city that was put up using tax payers funds which would mean it was not sold to Orange, see attached image. This ducting which still exists and what is required is for it to be handed over to CCK to manage thus allowing a new entrant to lay fibre in the fasted way possible without needing to dig up half the city. It is not for the consumers to pay the ISPs for making uneconomical decisions when laying their fibre cable, if this was done we can role out a fibre optic metro network, including areas like Buru Buru, Eastleigh and South C/B within 3 months. Peculiar Kenyans, we know the problem, we know the solution but we refuse to implement. So Liko, join me in the fight to wrestle this infrastructure that the tax payer paid for from the East Africa Post & Telecommunications/Kenya Posts and Telecommunications/Telkom Kenya. It was done in the US with MaBell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System) which was split up. If Dr. Ndemo is truthful about not handing over NoFbi to Orange, then lets make sure that he cuts out the existing underground ducting from its control. Most of the copper in those ducts is redundant as Telkom installed an SDH fibre ring to interconnect its exchanges. The writing is on the wall, any policy fellows out there who can guide us on how to effect to takeover? Regards Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi(a)gmail.com> To: robert yawe <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> Cc: Dennis Kioko Mbuvi <dmbuvi+kictanet(a)gmail.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Fri, 24 September, 2010 10:36:52 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Wireless, a high or low density solution I think the situation is compounded by lack of a Neutral infrastructure provider. ISPs are afraid to utilize infrastructure from KDN, Telkom and Jamii as all this operate their own ISPs. As for KDN leaving the retail market, am wondering how they expect us to beileve them when they have a sister company downstairs. So, will this be the situation until some Indian from Bharti or Reliance arrives and rolls out city wide infrastructure. Google has also announce plans to roll out wireless infrastructure for lease. Shall we be waiting for outsiders to come wipe our behinds, then fall over to foreign vs Kenyan to protect ourselves.

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Wireless, a high or low density solution
by robert yawe 24 Sep '10

24 Sep '10

Hi, I am sure some of you read my posting on my waiting to receive reliable Internet when at home and more recently my issues with safaricom on installation of a Wimax connection. In the same breath I have been questioning the rational of using wireless solutions in Nairobi where we have such a density of consumers which could explain the issues being raised by ISPs about lowering Internet charges due to unfactored costs in landing the fibre optic cable. I grew up in buru buru estate and now that I think about it there where very few overhead power lines and the ones that where there feed directly to the substations and transformer rooms. Where I currently live today in South C the situation is the same. But when you visit estates like Umoja innercore, Runda, Karen there is a lot of overhead power lines in the case of Umoja it is because of bad planning while in the other 2 it due to the sparseness of the units. Therefore as an analogy the over head lines is wireless connectivity and the underground cabling your fibre & copper solutions. When CCK raise issues about BTS sharing and NEMA keep screaming about radiation the ISPs continue to increase the amount of radio traffic in our airwaves one antennae at a time. As I write this I am seated in the office at Phoenix house and can see 5 wireless devices, across at Standard House there are over 13 of them three quarters of which are facing the same direction indicating that are connecting to the same base station. I do not envy the person responsible for customer service of that network and also the upgrades that will soon be required as one sector gets congested yet another is underutilised. Even as I wait for the finally commissioning of my Wimax installation by Safaricom at home I wonder would it not have been more cost effective to deliver a fibre optic cable to the estate (which for you information is fully ducted for low voltage services from the cab into each house) and provide all the 150 houses with a wired solution. If we think through some of the solutions we implement we can do more with what we have, the hire customer density on a fibre node will reduce per unit cost and increase profitability for the provider thus allowing him to offer wireless solutions for the more spreadout locations with lower densities. Our fear of Telkom's history where a land line would be out of service for months on end with excuses such cable has been cut or we have no drop wire. Today even Telkom is offering those with landlines an automatic wireless line fail-over in the event of the cable getting cut. Using Wimax to cover less than 4 kilometre distances is like killing a fly with a sledge hammer. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Commodity Exchange System
by robert yawe 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

Hi, The National Cereals and Produce Board together with the East African Grain Council are working towards the creation of a commodity exchange to trade futures. This process is at an advanced stage which begun with a process called warehouse receipting and currently Equity Bank offers credit against the receipts. What does this have to do with us in the IT field? When the Nairobi Stock Exchange tendered for the automated trading system (ATS) and more recently for the Broker Back-office System no local IT company made it past the 1st round. The fact that companies like Virtual City are winning international awards for systems development and others like PesaPal are receiving large direct foreign investments means that we do have the skills to develop world class solutions. This is an appeal to all ICT experts in the country to prepare ourselves to make sure that the grain exchange system is locally developed and we stop being spectators in our own country. I know it is said that a prophet is never recognised in his own town, it is time we made this phrase redundant. NCPB and others are already shopping overseas for a solution so be warned that time is not in our hands and if we are to have an impact we need to move quickly. The proposed system is supposed to provide a trading platform, depository system, GIS for land information, settlement system, warehouse management, weather monitoring and seed planting information system (acreage, seed type, fertiliser, etc). Lets get off our high horses and put a together a world class solution for a local problem. No tears after the horse has bolted. Useful links http://dn.nationmedia.com/DN/DN/2010/09/03/ArticleHtmls/03_09_2010_030_014.… http://allafrica.com/stories/200904271171.html http://www.ratin.net/mainfeature.asp?id=40 http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Smart%20Money/-/688614/899436/-/bypmdxz/-… http://www.unctad.info/upload/SUC/LusakaWorkshop/WarehouseServicesKenya.pdf Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Masaku to Ndemo, "You are Doing a Great Job with Artists"
by Grace (Bomu) 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

On Churhill Live, shown on Thursday at 7.30pm, veteran actor "Masaku" of Vitimbi fame ackowlegded the great work being by Information PS in supporting training of upcoming artists in the "mitaas". Congrats on your good work! -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: GraceMutung'u (Bomu)

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IGF Book, report on Sharm El Sheikh Meeting
by Barrack Otieno 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

Dear Colleagues, This might be an interesting resource for those who did not make it for the meeting in Vilnius. http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/images/2010/book/igf.sharm.book.final.pdf Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno +41767892272 Skype: barrack.otieno

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Fwd: [ISOC] Reminder: Deadline approaching [Internet Society Community Grants programme]
by Adam Peake 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

Any ISOC member can apply. Adam >From: Connie Kendig <kendig(a)isoc.org> >To: isoc-members-announce(a)elists.isoc.org >Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:36:55 -0400 >Subject: [ISOC] Reminder: Deadline approaching [Internet Society Community > Grants programme] > >Just a friendly reminder that the ISOC grants programme application >round is closing in one week: 30 September. > >Feel free to contact me with any questions. > >Warm regards, >Connie > > >Begin forwarded message: > >>From: Connie Kendig <kendig(a)isoc.org> >>Date: September 1, 2010 8:59:10 AM EDT >>To: isoc-members-announce(a)elists.isoc.org >>Subject: [ISOC] Internet Society Community Grants programme now open! >> >>Dear ISOC members: >> >>The Internet Society is now accepting applications for its >>Community Grants Programme. The application cycle will be open >>until 30 September. Decisions will be announced in mid-November. >> >>Please note, as mentioned before, two new eligibility criteria: >> >>1. Current Chapter applicants who are previous Community Grants >>award recipients and currently have a project underway must have >>met all financial and reporting requirements for that past award. >>Otherwise, the current Chapter application will not be considered. >> >>2. Previous Community Grants recipients awarded as Individual >>Members (instead of a Chapter award) may not have more than one >>ISOC-funded project open at one time. In order for a current >>application from an Individual Member to be considered, any >>previous non-Chapter projects must be completed in full with >>appropriate reporting submitted. >> >>To learn more about the programme, and to apply, please visit our >>website at http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/projects/. >> >>Any questions may be sent to projects [at] isoc [dot] org. >> >>Best, >> >>Connie J Kendig >>Sponsored Programs & Grants Manager >> >>Internet Society >>www.isoc.org >> >>Kendig(a)isoc.org >>Phone: +1 (703) 439-2136 > >

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Mobile Monday- September 27th @iHub 6pm-7.30pm Invitation
by John Wesonga 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

Hi, I just wanted to send out an invitation to the KICTANET list for *Mobile Monday-KENYA *which will be happening on the 27th of September at the iHub from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. For those not familiar with Mobile Monday (MoMo) is an open community platform of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influential individuals fostering brand neutral cooperation and cross-border P2P business opportunities through live networking events to demo products, share ideas and discuss trends from both local and global markets. This will be our 7th meet up since the Kenya chapter was launched Previous organizations/companies that have presented include Google Kenya,MXit plus several local startups. Register at http://mobilemondaykenya.eventbrite.com/ -- John Wesonga

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KICTB Pasha"Digital Villages" Status
by Edwin Onchari 22 Sep '10

22 Sep '10

Hello Paul, What is the progress on this project, and how does one tap into its capacity to roll out services to disadvantages locations in Kenya, to benefit the marginalized groups in our society? There is not much on your site to this effect Edwin

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Unavailable Safaricom offer
by robert yawe 22 Sep '10

22 Sep '10

Hi, On Sunday I came across a full page advertisement by Safaricom offering home broadband service for 3,990/-, they also where offering a free PSP for the 1st 10 signups. This was an offer that my kids where not going to let pass them, so we sent a message to the number and promptly received a reply at 9:35 am on Sunday 19th September 2010 that they will revert to us within 12 hours. It has been over 24 hours and no response from Safaricom, is this a sign of things to come where marketing are moving forward without consulting other departments? Its not a pretty sight. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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