- KICTANet - KICTANet

Lets Discuss Tandaa not Persons
by Robert Alai 18 Nov '08

18 Nov '08

Alex and James Lets discuss tandaa the way we were doing and let me warn anybody trying to fight personal wars in KICTANET that I will answer you. Lets see how we can better Tandaa and the local content Alai

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Re: [kictanet] Tandaa - An Honest Analysis
by smwngi＠gmail.com 18 Nov '08

18 Nov '08

Joe, Robert You both have very valid points. However ask youself this. If the confrence was about prompting local content did you get local content? No. Why? Because there is very little to none. ICT board may have looked for local organizations the have web content to showcase their goals and objectives. The objective here is to promote local infromation. You may have seen the presentation before (am not saying I haven't seen them either & wasn't surprised) but there has been very little content added by new players. For the most part I saw sales pitches from the presenters which made it difficult to understand why they were given the slots to begin with. It should have been promoting content. How to gather it, how to present it, how to keep it updated, and quench the thirst for infromation. Having gone through the first round I believe there are lessons learnt and we should voice our opinions so as to improve our processes and deliverables. Cheers Stephen Mwangi -----Original Message----- From: "Joseph Manthi" <jmanthi(a)gmail.com> Subj: Re: [kictanet] Tandaa - An Honest Analysis Date: Tue 18 Nov 2008 12:46 am Size: 5K To: Stephen Mwangi <smwngi(a)gmail.com> cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Robert I did not attend but I know exactly what you are saying. Local is golden, foreign should be forgotten unless we want to remain where we are. Joe On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: Mirembe I have a very open and honest analysis of our Tandaa conference. The facts which we must change is that Paul Kukubo, my big brother still sees it best to defend foreign companies and say that "eve if we want local content we must stilldo it with foreigners. Let me tell you a thing. We must focus on local mpaka it becomes music. When I saw the slides of Joe Mucheru, which apparently I have seen in every conference I have attended in which he is the speaker. The websites listed there, non were Kenyan. The fact that Mucheru works for a Carlifornian company and he is Kenyan should make Mucheru sell Kenya more. If you wanted a subscription website, you should have started with kenyalaw.org. If you wanted affiliates, mamamikes.com has affiliates. Lets focus on local. Lets give it lots of thought. We must give local examples and then mention the foreign ones just as an after-thought. We want the companies to give the local content much thought and they can only do that when they think locally. When you make people believe that facebook is great, we wont head anywhere. See why Tanzanians are engaging more in bongo5.com and jamiiforums than facebook and others. They are actively loading pics and content and these two websites are really coming up well and considreing the age of the websites, we will see nice things from them. We should not glorify anything western. We must start appreciating our own facebook like Ngari has developed a good site, www.kasarani.com When I started my start forum and blogging thing, jamiiforums.com, we had lots of problems. But we also had people telling us that the forum which is being run by my great friend Maxence, was going nowhere because Tanzanians dont speak a lot of English. See the site now. I dont think that there is any forum in this region with that kind of killer traffic. There is no forum in this region which makes the government shakes like hell when issues are being analyzed there. And they are doing it most of the time in Swahili. We must focus on being local if we want local content. NMG bought a script from Germans and installed it on their site without a forum nor blogs for the senior writers. Why? No creativity. NTV, EasyFm and QFM are not online. A very good percentage of articles in Mailbox are plagiarized from blogs and forums without acknowledgement and articles in entertainment and lifestyle mazagines are plagiarized from magazines like cosmopolitan and Elle sometimes word for word. The Tandaa website was .com and not .co.ke. Even if you are not hosting locally, you could still have had a local domain registration. The funniest thing I got from the conference, why would 6 or 7 speakers speak for 15 minutes each and then the forum audience is given 10 minutes to ask questions and suggestions? Do you know that the slides from Capital, NMG, Google, Homeboyz, Kictanet, ICT board, Strathmore, Rich, Cisco and others are shown to us almost in every conference we attend. They have become so predictable that the best place to get more stories and even slides which you have never seen is from the public. Givingg 15 minutes to each speaker which is 105 minutes for the seven speakers then the audience asks and get replies in 10 minutes is really not correct and shows and attitude of escapism where te audience are feared that they might embarass the speakers with questions. The other facts of the conference was ok. The moderator, Al Kags, was ok but I think that we can do alot of improvements by having power cable well spread for bloggers and also the Wi-Fi to be abit superior. I had to rely on my Zain unlimited since the ICT board Wi-fi kept shutting down. We also think that we can have an active network and the best place to start is now here in KICTANET. I see us turning KICTANET into an open vbulletin run forum with CMS managed frontpage like www.haitiwebs.com and www.mustangevolution.com. Vbulletin is so superior and it wont take us even a day to have this thing up and running. Senior members, what do you think? Alai, _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: jmanthi@gmail..com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jmanthi%40gmail.com -- Joseph Manthi CEO MEO Ltd http://www.meoltd.com

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Africa's first communications satellite fails
by Robert Alai 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

Africa's first communications satellite fails Adole Hassan 17 November 2008 | EN The satellite was expected to boost telecommunications in Nigeria and the rest of Africa Flickr/DavidDennisPhotos.com [ABUJA] Africa's first communications satellite has suffered an energy failure just 18 months after its launch. The solar panels have malfunctioned on the Chinese-manufactured satellite according to Alhassan Zaku, Nigeria's minister of state for science and technology. The NIGCOMSAT-1 satellite was launched from China in 2007 (see Satellite launches boost African communications) amidst optimism that it would aid development by linking up rural communities and progressing telemedicine and long-distance learning. There were also ambitious commercial goals. But these are now dashed, say commentators. Ahmed Rufai, managing director of Nigeria Communication, which runs the satellite management company, said the satellite was powered down on Sunday night (9 November) after it was discovered that the batteries were failing faster than expected. But Nigeria's ThisDay newspaper (12 November) claims that the satellite has already fallen out of its orbit and been destroyed in order to prevent it from harming others. The paper quotes unnamed sources who allege that the Chinese manufacturers of the satellite used poor-quality materials. Akin Soyinka, chair of non-governmental organisation Nigeria Internet Watch, told SciDev.Net that the loss of the satellite would damage the country's efforts to bridge the digital divide -- see African action plan pushes satellites for development). "The federal government invested a lot of resources in building the satellite — to the detriment of education and health in the last four years — with the hope of bridging the digital divide and accelerating the country's development," Soyinka said. "But now all that is gone down the drain." The 40 billion Nigerian Naira (US$240 million) satellite was entirely government-owned but was "fully insured," said Rufai. A geostationary satellite, it was supposed to work for 15 years, and is officially monitored by a ground control station in Abuja, Nigeria, with backup stations in China, Italy, northern Nigeria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) satellite applications centre in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa. Zaku told SciDev.Net that Internet service providers in Nigeria and telecommunications companies who were using the satellite would be moved to other satellites if engineers confirm that it is unfixable. --- End forwarded message ---

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[Fwd: The November 17th Leadership Forum - at The Hilton Hotel, Tsavo Room]
by alice 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

Please note that the November 17^th Leadership Forum will take place at the* Hilton Hotel,* Tsavo room and not the Stanley. Details below: *LEADERSHIP FORUM* *‘Implications of the current global financial crisis’ – Rt Hon. David Blunkett (prominent member of the UK parliament’* *Hon. Blunkett* has served as Home Secretary and Education Secretary of the United Kingdom. Blind since birth and from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts he has strived against all odds to become one of UK's most respected citizens. Be there to listen to him. Date: November 17th 2008 (Monday) Venue: Hilton Nairobi – Tsavo room Time: 6.00 pm Leadership Forum members: Free Non-Forum members Ksh 1,000 Confirm your attendance by email to. _Leadership.forum(a)britishcouncil.or.ke_ <mailto:Leadership.forum@britishcouncil.or.ke> Attached is Rt. Hon Blunkett’s biography. <<DB biography.doc>> Best Regards, Linet Otibine Projects and Communications Officer British Council, Nairobi P.O. Box 40751-00100 Upper Hill Road T: +254 283 6000 F: +254 283 6500 _Linet.otibine(a)britishcouncil.or.ke_ <mailto:Linet.otibine@britishcouncil.or.ke> *Creating Opportunity for people worldwide* *_www.britishcouncil.org_* <file://www.britishcouncil.org> The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are a registered charity; 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland). We build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide. This message is for the use of the intended recipient(s) only. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete it. The British Council accepts no liability for loss or damage caused by software viruses and you are advised to carry out a virus check on any attachments contained in this message.

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Cheaper international fibre prices in 2009 will put the squeeze on national backbone prices
by alice 17 Nov '08

17 Nov '08

(From Balancing Act) Cheaper international fibre prices in 2009 will put the squeeze on national backbone prices Africa’s operators say they cost their national backbone prices based on distance. The basis is that the further you want your traffic carried, the more it costs. However, this logic will soon be challenged by new, cheaper international bandwidth costs. If it costs more to send traffic from Johannesburg to Cape Town or from Lagos to Abuja than it does from any of these places to Europe, then national arbitrage will have well and truly arrived. Russell Southwood looks at what is likely to happen. Currently SAT3 prices vary from US$1,300-8,200 per mbps per month. Volume prices in South Africa fit into the bottom end of this range. Prices have recently come down in Angola to the lower end of this range, leaving Cameroon and Gabon as the high price pirates on the route. SEACOM and TEAMS are both saying that their cables will start operating in Kenya by Q2, 2009 and are offering prices that will probably translate into US$500-1,000 if operators pass along the savings made. On the west coast, Main One looks like being the first competitor cable to land in Q2, 2010 and will offer prices that will probably translate into prices for customers in the same range as on the east coast. And this where the problem begins for operators. About half of Africa’s operators are offering the same bandwidth (usually up to 500 kms) for US$2,000 or more. Only a very few are below US$1,000 and some are as high as US$4,000. These prices do not take into account a series of add-ons like access charges that actually take the global prices higher. The intelligent customers might at this point be asking themselves: why are operators able to go half way round the globe for the same price they’re charging me for going from the capital city to another city? One telco in the southern African region with a monopoly gateway gets 65% of its revenues from international traffic. The impact of lower rates will rob even competitive incumbents of significant parts of their revenue. No wonder the Zambian Communications Minister (see Telecoms News below) is trying to retain Zamtel’s monopoly gateway status because the company is already loss-making with that financial advantage. But the bad news cannot be held at bay… For the operators, pressure from customers on national backbone will become irresistible because on the basis of distance charging things will not make sense. So what can the forward-looking incumbent do? * They need to invest in IP networks where according to Huawei and Nokia Siemens Network speakers at last week’s CRASA event (Migration Towards All-IP) IP core networks are 30-50% cheaper in CAPEX terms and 30% in OPEX terms. As vendors, they would say that, wouldn’t they? But these figures seem to accord with those of operators we’ve spoken to who have made all or part of this transition. Companies with all IP networks (like South Africa’s Neotel) or who have made a real beginning with this transition possess a potent advantage over those who will have to replace their core network over the next five years. * Most incumbents are very over-staffed and the political pressure to avoid redundancies has been too great for them to avoid this core issue. Not only do they have too many staff but they have too few with the IP skills required in the future. None have any strategy for addressing this “elephant in the room”. For many IP and analogue reside in separate departments and the former is small and not influential in corporate strategy. One possible solution? Outsource the core network functions in the way that a small number of mobile carriers (for example Kasapa in Ghana) already have. You can insert focused management and higher levels of skills and control your cost levels. But for Government-owned incumbents this will require decisiveness and a clear understanding that your asset will slip through your hands if you don’t. Bankrupt companies don’t employ people for long. For customers the prospects are more cheery. Infrastructure competition will in the medium term begin to deliver real savings if they are savvy and more demanding. There are two reasons: * Vertically integrated mobile operators want to get into the business of providing core network. All of those we have spoken to – both those planning and those already doing it – agree that there are savings to be made in the 30-50% range. Countries as diverse as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana already have several core network (or infrastructure) providers. Some claim even higher savings as much depends on how protected the monopoly provider is. The challenge for customers is to point out the national arbitrage and demand better value. • The second factor that favours customers is the arrival of alternative infrastructure providers. Power utilities already posses fibre over transmission pylons and adding more is considerably cheaper than trenching the same capacity. Over half a dozen power utilities have been either licensed directly to sell the capacity or given permission to tender to licence-holders. One of the more recent ones was Escom in Malawi which will in the not too distant future have fibre links to Mozambique. Where this has not happened, incumbents are trying to argue that this alternative capacity should be in their hands but they are probably fighting a losing battle. In order to speed up competition in the core network at the national level, operators’s customers will have to ask two questions: what is your new international fibre costing you and how much of that saving are you passing on to me? And why is it cheaper to get my traffic to Europe than it is to transfer it around the country I live in? Best to start asking now as the excuses are bound to convoluted and lengthy.

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[Fwd: [APC Forum] how to bypass internet censorship]
by alice 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

Interesting...... best alice ------------------------ Just to let you know we put out a new manual "How to Bypass Internet Censorship" http://en.flossmanuals.net/CircumventionTools You can also download a free pdf here or buy the book : http://www.lulu.com/content/4904448 Its focused on bypassing internet censorship with free software. We wrote the manual in 5 days using the Book Sprint model intially developed by Tomas Krag and the FLOSS Manuals toolset. So thats zero -> Book in 5 days. For those that will be at the Aspiration Dev summit, I'll be there doing two sessions : http://devsummit08.aspirationtech.org/index.php/FLOSS_Manuals_Tools http://devsummit08.aspirationtech.org/index.php/How_to_Run_a_Book_Sprint adam -- Adam Hyde Founder FLOSS Manuals http://www.flossmanuals.net ======================================= APC Forum is a meeting place for the APC community - people and institutions who are or have been involved in collaboration with APC, and share the APC vision - a world in which all people have easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian societies. _______________________________________________ apc.forum mailing list apc.forum(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/apc.forum

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Sega Silicon Valley - help with contact info?
by Gakuru Alex 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

Hi, Anybody knows how I could contact any of three Kenyan delegates at <http://www.wireless-africa.org/events/workshop_0811/participants> I tried googling with limited luck. Thanks, Alex

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Lecture by Nicholas Negroponte on "One Laptop per Child", 7 PM, November 20
by John Maina 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/3776/one_laptop_per_child.html

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Google Policy Fellowship
by John Maina 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

Google is looking for students who are passionate about technology, and want to spend the summer diving headfirst into Internet policy. Students from all majors and degree programs who possess the following qualities are encouraged to apply: * Demonstrated or stated commitment to Internet and technology policy * Excellent academic record, professional/ extracurricular/ volunteer activities, subject matter expertise * First-rate analytical, communications, research, and writing skills * Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and efficiently, and to work smartly and resourcefully in a fast-paced environment * General “googliness” (kidding!) Fellows will receive a stipend of $7,000 for 10 weeks during the summer of 2009 (June-August) . Exact dates of the fellowship will be worked out by the fellow and host organization. Applications are due by Friday, December 12, 2008. Students who are accepted into the program will be notified by Friday, February 13th, 2009. To learn about our application process, click here. http://www.google. com/policyfellow ship/ Mary (Molly) Uzoh, CEO/Principal Consultant Learning Right Technologies, LLC P. O. Box 51616 San Jose, CA 95151 Phone: 408-649-5872, Cell: 408-826-2167 http://www.learning right.com

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BBC E-mail: European debut for '$100 laptop'
by John Maina 16 Nov '08

16 Nov '08

Paul E Fegan saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you should see it. ** European debut for '$100 laptop' ** The One Laptop Per Child organisation will start selling its XO laptop in Europe on 17 November. < http://news. bbc.co.uk/ go/em/fr/ -/2/hi/technolog y/7728881. stm > ** BBC Daily E-mail ** Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all in one daily e-mail < http://www.bbc. co.uk/email > ** Disclaimer ** The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified. If you do not wish to receive such e-mails in the future or want to know more about the BBC's Email a Friend service, please read our frequently asked questions. http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/help/ 4162471.stm

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