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【Invitation】22 Feb MWC_Shanghai_2021 Forum“Connected for Shared Prosperity”
by Adam Lane 18 Feb '21

18 Feb '21

Hi listers MWC Shanghai is on next week, most of it can be viewed online and there are a lot of interesting sessions. Feel free to register and watch online. One that may be of interest includes the former Head of UN Kenya, now Head of UN China. Adam [cid:image001.jpg@01D7064B.0BF9C0B0]<https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2021/huawei-day0-forum/connected-f…> [cid:image002.jpg@01D7064B.0BF9C0B0]<https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2021/huawei-day0-forum/connected-f…> NOTE-Below times are for China,which is 5 hours ahead of Kenya [cid:image003.jpg@01D7064B.0BF9C0B0]<https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2021/huawei-day0-forum/connected-f…> [cid:image004.jpg@01D7064B.0BF9C0B0]<https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2021/huawei-day0-forum/connected-f…>

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS
by Andrew Alston 18 Feb '21

18 Feb '21

Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2021 2:29:52 PM To: Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS No - I said at scale - it has cost implications - and the more breakdown you want as per protocol the larger the cost implications. Anything can be done - the question is how the cost of doing it is born. Per user according is a lot cheaper than per protocol accounting - and relatively easy - per protocol accounting is complex and can be costly - it can be done - it’s a matter of making the economics work Again let me stress - anything can be done - given enough money - and the question is what costs are the users prepared to be eat to get that functionality Andrew Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2021 1:44:57 PM To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS Andrew, in summary, you have just said that it's impractical (economically) to notify clients of their usage before the FUPs are applied - and @AHK is definitely coming back on your case for stating this :-) PS: I am on leave from this debate. :-) On Thu, 18 Feb 2021 at 13:30, Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> wrote: Btw – in terms of sizing of the data – At 5.184 billion samples per month – if you are storing each sample as a 64bit float (which is common) – you are consuming 41 terabytes of data per month just in the sampling – excluding overhead to serialize the data and store it – storing for 12 months would be close to half a petabyte of uncompressed data unless you are doing rollup – then add redundancy x 2 – now you are up to 1.5 petabytes of disk space. Obviously there is compression that can be employed etc – the point is – this isn’t as simple as people are making out Andrew From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:liquidtelecom.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of Odhiambo Washington via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 13:13 To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> Cc: Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com<mailto:odhiambo@gmail.com>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS @Victor Kapiyo<mailto:vkapiyo@kictanet.or.ke> let me try and answer the question "How are users supposed to know they have reached or almost reached their limits? ISPs should provide this information to users" ISPs have (access to) systems that monitor all traffic. By monitor, I mean the systems are able to categorise the type of traffic and aggregate the bytes/MBs/GBs used. I think it is trivial for them to avail this information to the clients. The same way they throttle you once you hit the data cap, they can easily trigger an email to you when you reach N% (say 75%) of the FUPs data cap then you can decide on what to do. Question is - will they do it? Are they obliged to do it?? The example below is a graph that one ISP has of a client's usage. I have access to this via a web portal. Funnily, I never know about the existence of this web portal for years - because I probably did not read every letter and word of the T&Cs for the service - like who does that? :-) [cid:177b4bbae4c4cff311] On Thu, 18 Feb 2021 at 12:47, Victor Kapiyo via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Very interesting. How are users supposed to know they have reached or almost reached their limits? ISPs should provide this information to users. ISPs need to be held accountable for what they advertise e.g. a 20mbps connection, and be required to provide as such, and have a transparent mechanism for users to know what amount of data they're consuming. We might as well treat home fibre as we do data bundles, so that we always know our speed and consumption. How can a user dispute an 'unfair' FUP by an ISP if there's no independent way of verifying consumption? While i applaud Safcom for their transparency, which other ISPs should emulate, it's best practice for consumers to be provided with clear information of what they're purchasing at the time of contracting. As consumers, we always have the option to change providers, and have the freedom to contract. However, the playing field needs to be level. ISPs have an unfair advantage over their customers, who are the weaker party in these contracts. The Communications Authority should step in to protect the rights of consumers, and check these unfair trade practices which are being openly implemented by ISPs to the detriment of consumers. The silence of CA on this issue, is in my view is worrying. Victor On Thu, 18 Feb 2021, 11:54 geoffrey gitagia via kictanet, <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: I barely watch 4k coz of bandwidth requirements , but my net consumption is usually around 300 GB , plus my only big B/W hog is CCTV backup for 2 cameras. On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 11:49 AM Andrew Alston via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Unless you’re watching more than 60 hours of tv a month – you won’t have a problem with Netflix 4k 😊 Andrew From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:liquidtelecom.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of tevin mwenda via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 11:44 To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> Cc: tevin mwenda <tevinmwenda(a)gmail.com<mailto:tevinmwenda@gmail.com>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS Thank you very much for this debate. I am learning a lot on Fair Use Policy. I guess no more watching Netflix in 4K High definition. Kind Regards Tevin Mwenda Gitonga On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 11:07 AM Josiah Mugambi via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: My takeaway is that FUPs should be published as a requirement. Also don't torrent too much. On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 11:04 AM Barrack Otieno via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: @Ali Hussein<mailto:ahussein@kictanet.or.ke> what if the Customer does not have sufficient Capacity to understand FUP, si unampea tu ajisomee na ajipange. By the way even fish can't come to a fisherman who doesnt have bait yet they are analogue ama namna gani? On Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 10:59 AM Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Andrew I do appreciate your very candid responses and of course, I wouldnt expect you to agree with my 'conspiracy theories' about data. The fact that you can't run away from is this:- Most ISPs run a Bait and switch sales operations machine. This a morally suspect sales tactic that lures customers in with specific claims about the quality or low prices on items that turn out to be unavailable in order to upsell them on a similar, pricier item. It is considered a form of retail sales fraud, though it takes place in other contexts. So, when you are selling me bandwidth, don't hide the FUP in T&Cs. Tell me to my face. Then I decide whether I'm ok with it or not. This is the biggest issue here. Not whether FUPs are done or not. Regards Ali Hussein Digital Transformation Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<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 Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 10:47 AM Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> wrote: Safaricom did tell you about the FUP – unlike most ISP’s in the world that never disclose what those FUP’s are. Also – I’d be very careful about alleging that ISP’s are all looking at user data – particularly because it’s a patently false allegation that all data is analyzed on all links. Yes – some ISP’s probably do do that kinda DPI on every circuit – but it certainly isn’t the case for a large portion of them – because its not economically feasible to do it. Again, someone would have to pay for those analytics engines – and having written a significant amount of code to detect ddos attacks using pure packet headers (metadata) – I can tell you flatly that this belief that an ISP is sniffing every packet and analyzing it – is a conspiracy theory with very little basis in fact. To back this up – on a software based platform – the following is the processing pipeline for packet analytics of packet metadata 1. Receive the packet 2. Categorize the packet * By the Ethernet Protocol ID (IPv4, IPv6, possibly .1q tags) * By the Layer 4 Protocol byte (Specifically byte 9 of the IP header in V4 traffic) * Store the 32bit Source and Destination – combined with the Source and Destination port of the Layer 4 header dependent on if its UDP or TCP * Hash the whole lot and place it into a lookup table against the 5 way tuple. 1. Even if you vectorize that process – you are still looking at a coupla milliseconds per packet – times millions of packets a second. A modern server can do that kinda accounting at ~20gigabit/second if they bypass kernel which bloats things – but – they haven’t touched the data segment of the packet. 2. If you look at Cisco routers – if you do port mirroring – you are limited to mirroring the first 128 bytes of the packet – because the replication of anything beyond that kills performance, it can’t be done at line rate 3. If you look at Juniper routers – you can port mirror for analytics on the full packet – but at the cost of performance. 4. On hardware asic based routing – analytics such as you are referring to requires CPU punt – because the asics aren’t designed to do what you are proposing. A 10gig circuit can be running in excess of a million packets a second – even if you are vectorizing the packet processing – just analyzing the headers to categorize it – before you attempt to hash it and bucket it – requires a minimum of 100 instructions post packet receipt – add the hashing and bucketing – you’re looking at a few thousand instructions to the CPU *per packet* - add the payload analytics – this goes up by orders of magnitude – last I checked – ISP’s don’t have super computers lying around. If you want full DPI to the level of analytics you are proposing – you HAVE to analyze the full payload content of the packet – and while there are boxes that can do this – they cost *millions* (of dollars not KSH) – and ISP’s generally aren’t gonna spend that kinda money unless they have to – because the cost has to be passed to the users. Andrew From: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke<mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke>> Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 10:32 To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS Andrew Wacha kizungu mingi (I think you are Kenyan enough to understand what I've just said). 😁 Let me put you on the spot. To come up with FUP's you already know whose doing what so that 'innocence' of telling us about privacy now is moot. You all use these tools to snoop on us. Period. Now do it for the benefit of the customer. Not yours. This is really very simple. You all are crying foul about costs blah blah...but when you were wooing us you didn't tell us about FUP... Do the right thing mate...Be on the right side of history. Regards Ali Hussein Digital Transformation Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<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 Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 10:19 AM Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> wrote: Ali, I respectfully disagree – FUP’s have been apart of the Internet since day one since they protect the integrity of the networks as a whole. You have the option of buying an account without such an FUP – it just costs more – because someone has to cover the costs. Bandwidth doesn’t come free. This is the same reason why there are contention ratios (which I notice Safaricom also publishes). You refer to big data analytics – yet if I were to propose that an ISP actively sniff and analyze user traffic – you’d be screaming about violations of privacy – because the type of analytics you are talking about would require deep packet inspection at levels you don’t even want to contemplate. Let me be clear – you get what you pay for – and if every user decided to use their FUP allocated terabyte to its full capacity – for every 3240 users you would need a 10gigabit circuit – if every user ran at their maximum speeds on the 100mbit accounts – for every 100 users you would need a 10gigabit circuit. Trust me when I say – there is no world in which an ISP could afford to provide 10gigabit of bandwidth at a cost of effectively under $11k a month and still remain viable – which is what would happen if all those users maxed out. So – let me ask you – would you prefer that ALL the users be penalized with significantly higher prices – or would you prefer that people abide by what is fair (and what is in this case, a FUP that is 4 times the global average usage for home user accounts – which is just north of 250gigabytes of data a month on global average) Andrew From: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke<mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke>> Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 10:11 To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Cc: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS Andrew Let me call this BS as it should be called. BS. Surely, of all people, you shouldn't be the one to justify FUP. I appreciate your honesty though. 😀 Here's a thought:- With all the tools available using Big Data and Analytics, aren't you all able to isolate the abusers and punish them instead of painting all of us with the same abuser tar brush? I think we are in the age of companies treating their customers with the respect they deserve and actually do right by them. What you have described is communal punishment. This is wrong and the regulator needs to take note. Regards Ali Hussein Digital Transformation Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<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 Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 8:13 AM Andrew Alston via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: I’ve hesitated to climb into this but – here goes anyway (everything written in personal capacity) Firstly – almost ALL ISP’s have FUP’s in some form or another – generally buried deep in the T&C’s – as someone stated to me – in the UK with certain ISP’s suddenly your line just gets slow and then when you call support you find yourself quietly diverted to the abuse department. The fact is that FUP’s are a necessary evil. 1. They prevent customers from reselling one account to multiple other parties while sharing it using NAT – which impacts the financial viability of the service and make its more expensive for everyone else in the end 2. ISP’s operate on contention ratios – if you do not impose some form of FUP – you either have to put up the price or the contention ratios are going to get out of whack – and everyone else is going to suffer. 3. Globally most home accounts use well shy of half a terabyte a month – a terabyte of data is a LOT of data for a single home So let’s just put some context in what a terabyte of data actually means – and I always use video as the prime gauge of this because it’s the easiest example. Your average Netflix 4k film runs at ~25mbit at absolute maximum if you are watching 4K on an HDR enabled TV. That’s 22.5 Gigabytes of data every 2 hours – if you watch one 4K 2 hour movie every single day for a month you will eat 675gigs of data. If we drop this to 1080p – which is far more common – you are using ~7 megabit of bandwidth – or 6.3gigs every 2 hours – if you watch 300 hours of 1080p content in a month – or 10 hours a day – you still haven’t hit that cap. Effectively – you could watch one 4K movie every day for a month – and still watch 150 40minute tv episodes in 1080p in a month – and have room to move. To look at it from another perspective – installation of something like Ubuntu Linux over the net – you could still over 400 machines on that kinda data load in a month. With regards to gaming – you may burn 100gig pulling down a game and game updates – but after that in game play you are using tiny amounts of bandwidth and could keep yourself playing easily for a month with space to spare. On Zoom calls – if you ran zoom 24 hours a day – for a month – you’d use less than 70% of that cap. Also – I might point out that the FUP’s slow your link down once you hit that cap – to a rate that is still useable if a little sluggish. Basically what I’m saying in all of this – Safaricom’s FUP and T&C’s to me seem perfectly reasonable and designed to protect the network – with the alternative being – the price goes up for everyone or everyone suffers because of the few when the network congests. Bandwidth aint free – and you can’t have it both ways – the product still has to make financial sense to both the consumer and the provider Andrew From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:liquidtelecom.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of Adam Lane via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 07:36 To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com<mailto:Andrew.Alston@liquidtelecom.com>> Cc: Adam Lane <adam.lane(a)huawei.com<mailto:adam.lane@huawei.com>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS There's a webinar on this topic today for those interested A Public Policy Discussion on #HomeFibre and #FairUsage Policies in Kenya. 🗓️ Thursday, 18th February 2021 🕜 12:00PM - 1:30PM Sign up here: 🔗 https://t.co/LdD11UVy8q<https://t.co/LdD11UVy8q> #LawyersHub #AfricaLawTech #ISP https://t.co/a5w9SUiAl6<https://t.co/a5w9SUiAl6> Speakers from CA, Safaricom, Liquid, KICTAnet, From:Beryl Aidi via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> To:Adam Lane <adam.lane(a)huawei.com<mailto:adam.lane@huawei.com>> Cc:Beryl Aidi <bee.aidi(a)gmail.com<mailto:bee.aidi@gmail.com>> Date:2021-02-18 05:57:28 Subject:Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS Thank you Sidney for this. I don’t think Safaricom is being sincere in this fair usage limits. They promised that with Home Fibre one can stream, download or upload stuff without limits. All you do is pay your monthly subscription. Fair usage is a type of rationing that limits how much you can do when you had been promised that you can do whatever you want. To me this is going back on a promise. It’s reminiscent of the days of unlimited 3GB bundles on the dongle modem only for them to strike you with a fair usage notice. Are other networks doing the same? As the industry leader in the country, this is bound to influence other industry players to adopt the same standards and limits which is not good. Maybe it might be time to seek other options. Regards Beryl Sent from my iPad On 16 Feb 2021, at 9:47 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Thanks Sidney for initiating this debate. On Tue, 16 Feb 2021 at 19:44, Sidney Ochieng via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote: Listers, Not sure if you've seen the stir online of changes to the ToS with Safaricom's home offering. Safaricom is destroying Home Fibre with new ‘Fair Usage’ Limits: https://tech-ish.com/2021/02/14/safaricom-is-destroying-home-fibre-with-new…<https://tech-ish.com/2021/02/14/safaricom-is-destroying-home-fibre-with-new…> The response from the company has been disappointing in the extreme, misleading with statistics and suggesting that it's best customers are thieves<https://twitter.com/Safaricom_Care/status/1360876964651929600>, never mind that working for home has lead to increased demand and use of their services. That tweet certainly does not call resellers thieves. It calls them resellers. All this is beside the point, at least for this forum, what I'm concerned about this that if we didn't have an eagle-eyed blogger looking out for this, it would have been completely missed until it was already in place. So I have a few of questions: 1. Does the CA have any policies around ToS changes around services under their purview and how they are communicated to users? CA has a consumer and public affairs department. Here is what they have to say about ToC ( CA/CPA/CEP/B/05/2014 ) https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Consumer-Rights-and-Responsibil…<https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Consumer-Rights-and-Responsibil…> Perhaps CA should update that information. It is 6 years old. But good information nevertheless. 1. Should companies that run what could be considered critical infrastructure be allowed to arbitrarily change their ToS to apply retroactively especially if it's to the detriment of their customers? I hope lawyers here can help us with this. 1. 2. If customers choose not to accept a change in ToS what redress do they have given that perhaps the provider is the only one available in their area. 3. Finally, given that we know this could all be avoided if there was more competition in the fibre market, what is the CA doing to make it so that we have more competition in that area? It's concerning that Safaricom seems to only option for home connections in several places Determined by the market and economic forces. Just the other day, Safaricom was not in the home fibre market. What they have provided are more options for consumers. Numbers are stubborn facts. Fixed data subscription is as follows: Data source CA, July -September 2020 period, page 19 https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-Statistics-Report-Q1-202…<https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-Statistics-Report-Q1-202…> Safaricom PLC 229,406 subscribers, 35.6% market share Wananchi Group (Kenya) Ltd* 202,237 subscribers , 31.4 35.6% market share Jamii Telecommunications Ltd 127,914 subscribers , 19.8 Poa % market share Internet Kenya Ltd 56,824 subscribers ,8.8% market share Mawingu Networks Ltd 11,087 subscribers, 1.7 % market share Internet Solutions Kenya Ltd 9,228 subscribers, 1.4 % market share Consumers are speaking with their wallets. As a policy discussion list, probably what we should be asking is what is the fair cost for certain broadband packages, and whether there is anything that can be really unlimited. Wearing my competent network engineer hat, I can tell you even at Safaricom, they don't have unlimited bandwidth. Bandwidth is a limited resource to the extent of the network devices, network media, and cost of acquiring and delivering that bandwidth to your edge device. Best Regards ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva<https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva> _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bee.aidi%40gmail.com<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bee.aidi%40gmail.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. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com<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. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/barrack%40kictanet.or…<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/barrack%40kictanet.or…> 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. -- Barrack Otieno Trustee Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTAnet) Skype:barrack.otieno +254721325277 https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrack-otieno-2101262b/<https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrack-otieno-2101262b> www.kictanet.or.ke<http://www.kictanet.or.ke> _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/josiah.mugambi%40gmai…<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/josiah.mugambi%40gmai…> 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. -- Josiah Mugambi _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/tevinmwenda%40gmail.c…<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/tevinmwenda%40gmail.c…> 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. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ggitagia%40gmail.com<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ggitagia%40gmail.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. -- GG _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/vkapiyo%40gmail.com<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/vkapiyo%40gmail.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. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet<http://twitter.com/kictanet> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/<https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/> Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/odhiambo%40gmail.com<https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/odhiambo%40gmail.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. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 "Oh, the cruft.", grep ^[^#] :-) -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 "Oh, the cruft.", grep ^[^#] :-)

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS
by Jimmy Gitonga 18 Feb '21

18 Feb '21

Thank you very much Andrew. I am completely 100% on your side. We should know that no ISP can really tell whether one is torrenting or binge watching video at 4k. What they look for is patterns. If “you” are not sleeping, at 100% bandwidth for 48 hours straight, you are a bot, perhaps torrent software. In my opinion, the timing of disclosing of the FUPs are not the issue. No one lamented when Safaricom doubled the bandwidth at the same cost, last year this time. Did they read the T&Cs. Many did not. We are now being “forced" to be aware of what we are doing with bandwidth we did not have when we started with on our package of choice. We have to decide to take the limitation or find some other ISP. We don’t like that. So like good Kenyans, we complain loudly. Unless we have forgotten our cybercafe (“cyber") experiences, bandwidth restraints were a horror for all of us who were not seeking to score cheap points on “Demonoid” or some other torrent network. “Normally” if you wanted, say Photoshop (most globally ‘pirated’ software at that time), you would spend the day at the cybercafe doing getting your torrent of bootleg stash. But there were those people who leave torrents flowing from the previous night or early morning once the cyber is running and go to work, hoping to come back later and pick their “gigs” of software. Clients come to the cyber and take a seat at a computer, paying for the time and find that someone’s torrent is running in the background of the computer they are on. No way. Torrent … gone or at best switched off. However, the cyber management started charging for these “services" and once clients started paying for CDs and DVDs of software or even movies, this problem eased even as the overall bandwidth increased. However, “peculiar" habits have not changed, these practices have just moved to the house. So two things are coming out of this: 1) Many of the buildings that were wired and had “Corporate Fibre accounts” have been abandoned. The SMEs have moved. So there needs to be an “SME” package with 100Mbit to 500Mbit speeds with no caps at the market price. These should be for business use, which will be recovered by the business as a utility cost. Safaricom and other ISPs need to cater for “SMEs" that are now working from “home”. 2) Safaricom and other ISPs need to track those who ‘misuse’ bandwidth and tell them about their patterns and suggest an upgrade to the SME packages we have talked about. That would be a win / win. Overall, we need to be reasonable. This attitude of “I am paying for it” while not accepting the realities governing the ISPs needs to addressed. Either we are looking out for the other people using the same services as we are at a particular ISP or we accept “free” (not fair) market forces and that will hurt everyone. PS: Your details on packet inspection are gold for any network engineer wannabe. Jimmy Gitonga @Afrowave Web : Motion On 18 Feb 2021, 10:49 +0300, kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke, wrote: > 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: Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS (Andrew Alston) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2021 07:47:05 +0000 > From: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com> > To: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS > Message-ID: > <VI1PR03MB50562B03C2DCE9AC3DC34B49EE859(a)VI1PR03MB5056.eurprd03.prod.outlook.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Safaricom did tell you about the FUP ? unlike most ISP?s in the world that never disclose what those FUP?s are. > > Also ? I?d be very careful about alleging that ISP?s are all looking at user data ? particularly because it?s a patently false allegation that all data is analyzed on all links. Yes ? some ISP?s probably do do that kinda DPI on every circuit ? but it certainly isn?t the case for a large portion of them ? because its not economically feasible to do it. > > Again, someone would have to pay for those analytics engines ? and having written a significant amount of code to detect ddos attacks using pure packet headers (metadata) ? I can tell you flatly that this belief that an ISP is sniffing every packet and analyzing it ? is a conspiracy theory with very little basis in fact. > > To back this up ? on a software based platform ? the following is the processing pipeline for packet analytics of packet metadata > > > 1. Receive the packet > 2. Categorize the packet > * By the Ethernet Protocol ID (IPv4, IPv6, possibly .1q tags) > * By the Layer 4 Protocol byte (Specifically byte 9 of the IP header in V4 traffic) > * Store the 32bit Source and Destination ? combined with the Source and Destination port of the Layer 4 header dependent on if its UDP or TCP > * Hash the whole lot and place it into a lookup table against the 5 way tuple. > 3. Even if you vectorize that process ? you are still looking at a coupla milliseconds per packet ? times millions of packets a second. A modern server can do that kinda accounting at ~20gigabit/second if they bypass kernel which bloats things ? but ? they haven?t touched the data segment of the packet. > 4. If you look at Cisco routers ? if you do port mirroring ? you are limited to mirroring the first 128 bytes of the packet ? because the replication of anything beyond that kills performance, it can?t be done at line rate > 5. If you look at Juniper routers ? you can port mirror for analytics on the full packet ? but at the cost of performance. > 6. On hardware asic based routing ? analytics such as you are referring to requires CPU punt ? because the asics aren?t designed to do what you are proposing. > > A 10gig circuit can be running in excess of a million packets a second ? even if you are vectorizing the packet processing ? just analyzing the headers to categorize it ? before you attempt to hash it and bucket it ? requires a minimum of 100 instructions post packet receipt ? add the hashing and bucketing ? you?re looking at a few thousand instructions to the CPU *per packet* - add the payload analytics ? this goes up by orders of magnitude ? last I checked ? ISP?s don?t have super computers lying around. > > If you want full DPI to the level of analytics you are proposing ? you HAVE to analyze the full payload content of the packet ? and while there are boxes that can do this ? they cost *millions* (of dollars not KSH) ? and ISP?s generally aren?t gonna spend that kinda money unless they have to ? because the cost has to be passed to the users. > > Andrew > > From: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> > Date: Thursday, 18 February 2021 at 10:32 > To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston(a)liquidtelecom.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS > Andrew > > Wacha kizungu mingi (I think you are Kenyan enough to understand what I've just said). ? > > Let me put you on the spot. To come up with FUP's you already know whose doing what so that 'innocence' of telling us about privacy now is moot. You all use these tools to snoop on us. Period. Now do it for the benefit of the customer. Not yours. This is really very simple. You all are crying foul about costs blah blah...but when you were wooing us you didn't tell us about FUP... > > Do the right thing mate...Be on the right side of history. > > Regards > > > Ali Hussein > > Digital Transformation > > > > Tel: +254 713 601113 > > Twitter: @AliHKassim > > Skype: abu-jomo > > LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> > >

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Fwd: Today 12Noon: Home Fibre and Fair Use Policy
by Linda Bonyo 18 Feb '21

18 Feb '21

Understand the terms and conditions of Internet Service Providers *Tech Policy Discussion, 18th February 2021* *A Review of Internet Service Providers Fair Usage Policies in Kenya* On* 15th February 2021*, Kenyans woke up to an updated fair use policy from Safaricom; the company with the largest market share on the internet service market. This policy sought to introduce usage limits for internet consumption which would be followed by significantly lower throttled internet speeds for users for the remainder of the monthly cycle before an opportunity to renew the bundle. *Safaricom* is neither the first nor the only internet service provider employing usage caps and throttle tactics with internet products. Similar tactics and policies are found with other providers such as *Faiba JTL* for home internet and *Telkom *on their mobile internet bundles. Join us today noon the *18th of February 2021* as we explore the Internet Service Providers Fair Usage Policies in Kenya. Their impact on inclusive digital economies, access to the internet, remote work, and regulation of ISPs in Kenya and Africa broadly. Register to Attend <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…> [image: Lawyers Hub Kenya] <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…> [image: Lawyers Hub Kenya] <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…> [image: Lawyers Hub Kenya] <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…> [image: Africa Law Tech] <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…> *Copyright © 2020 Lawyers Hub Kenya, All rights reserved.* *Our mailing address is:* Lawyers Hub Kenya, ACK Garden House, 6th Floor. Upper Hill. Nairobi. Kenya Email: *info(a)lawyershub.ke <info(a)lawyershub.ke>* Mobile: 0794749001, 0794739003 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/profile?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2688&…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://lawyershub.us4.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=6d1f49f0727166d1efd6e2…>.

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Freedom Online Coalition - Joint Statement on Spread of Disinformation Online
by Victor Kapiyo 17 Feb '21

17 Feb '21

In its “Joint Statement on Spread of Disinformation Online”, the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) expresses deep concern about the growing scope and sophistication of disinformation, which has been employed by state and non-state actors with political, ideological, commercial or other motives. To address this trend, the FOC calls upon governments to refrain from conducting and sponsoring disinformation campaigns, and urges all stakeholders to take active steps to address the issue in a manner that respects human rights, democracy and the rule of law, including acknowledging, in particular the specific targeting of and impact on women and persons belonging to minorities. The development of this statement was led by the governments of Finland and the United Kingdom with input from other Coalition member states and the multi-stakeholder FOC Advisory Network. You can read the statement here <https://freedomonlinecoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/FOC-Joint-Sta…> . *Victor Kapiyo* Partner | *Lawmark Partners LLP* *Suite No. 8, Centro House, Westlands, Nairobi | **Web: www.lawmark.co.ke <http://www.lawmark.co.ke> * ==================================================== *“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude” Zig Ziglar*

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Update: Opportunity at IEBC
by David Indeje 12 Feb '21

12 Feb '21

Listers, The IEBC has always been a good friend of KICTANet and they are giving us an opportunity to be Long-Term Election Observers and Voter Education Providers to observe and provide voter education for the various electoral activities expected to take place between February and December 2021. Sunday 14th February 2021 besides the Valentine’s Day, spare time to apply. Any interested person to send an email mwaragichanga(a)kictanet.or.ke or lizorembo(a)kictanet.or.ke an email for details on the application form and process *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje * +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856

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Opportunity at IEBC
by David Indeje 12 Feb '21

12 Feb '21

[image: image.png] Listers, The IEBC has always been a good friend of KICTANet and they are giving us an opportunity to be Long-Term Election Observers and Voter Education Providers to observe and provide voter education for the various electoral activities expected to take place between February and December 2021. Sunday 14th February 2021 besides the Valentine's Day, spare time to apply. https://www.iebc.or.ke/uploads/resources/Q60Ij3VEGh.pdf *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje * +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856

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Report Launch: Freedom of Expression and the Digital Environment in Eastern Africa 2020
by Sigi Waigumo Mwanzia 11 Feb '21

11 Feb '21

Dear Colleagues, Today , ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa (EA) has published its [ https://www.article19.org/freedom-of-expression-and-the-digital-environment… | Freedom of Expression and the Digital Environment in Eastern Africa 2020 ] report. This report examines the digital environment across six countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The report focuses on developments and challenges across three key areas, namely: 1. Freedom of expression online: Can words land you behind bars? 2. Internet accessibility and affordability: Are governments across Eastern Africa pulling their own weight to narrow the digital divide? 3. Privacy and data protection: Is the public’s personal data safe across Eastern Africa? The report proposes that, at a minimum, the six Eastern African countries should: * repeal and amend laws and policies which criminalise freedom of expression online * regularly publish comprehensive annual reports on universal access/service funding mechanisms * refrain from adopting and using Covid-19 contact tracing applications without appropriate human rights safeguards, including sunset clauses to strengthen privacy and data protection. Please interact with, and share, the [ https://www.article19.org/freedom-of-expression-and-the-digital-environment… | launch page ] , [ https://www.article19.org/resources/threats-to-free-speech-online-in-easter… | press release ] and [ https://twitter.com/article19eafric | social media ] content. I am happy to provide more information and address any of your queries. Regards, Sigi Waigumo Mwanzia, Digital Policy Consultant. Read more about ARTICLE 19's #MissingVoices campaign here: [ https://www.article19.org/campaigns/missingvoices/ | https://www.article19.org/campaigns/missingvoices/ ] ARTICLE 19 EASTERN AFRICA DEFENDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND INFORMATION W [ https://www.article19.org/regional-office/eastern-africa/ | https://www.article19.org/regional-office/eastern-africa/ ] Tw @article19eafric Fa [ http://facebook.com/article19org | facebook.com/article19org ]

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Safer Internet Day
by David Indeje 09 Feb '21

09 Feb '21

Listers, Happy Safer Internet Day. For those who do not know, this is a day celebrated globally aimed at promoting the safe and positive use of digital technology for children. What can make us trust the internet? This reminds me of "Content policy in Kenya 2019" published by Kictanet that called for policies that protect and encourage content from particular groups. policies related to content creation, education, commercialisation and community. https://www.kictanet.or.ke/mdocs-posts/content-policy-in-kenya-2019/ *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje * +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856

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MoICT's progress towards project goals
by Adam Lane 05 Feb '21

05 Feb '21

Hi all Treasury released a report on progress towards all MDA's targets for projects/activities. The one that includes ICT is here: https://www.treasury.go.ke/component/jdownloads/send/223-sector-reports/168… ICT starts at page 45 of the document (page 59 electronically) for those interested. There are also reasons why goals were achieved or not achieved. Adam

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