- KICTANet - KICTANet

Fibre Cut disrupts 70% Internet in India & Egypt
by brian 31 Jan '08

31 Jan '08

As we prepare to light up TEAMS we had better be thinking about redundancy ...... Brian ---------------------------------- Cut Fiber: Internet Services in India and Egypt Disrupted January 30th, 2008 Via: Reuters: A breakdown in an international undersea cable network badly disrupted Internet links to India and Egypt on Wednesday. Egypt’s Telecommunications Ministry said a communications cable in the Mediterranean was cut, disrupting 70 percent of the country’s Internet network. The ministry said in a statement it was not known how the cable was cut but that services would probably take several days to return to normal. India reported serious disruptions to its services and one Indian Internet service provider linked the problem to the Egyptian outage. “There has been a cable cut on several cable systems in Alexandria, Egypt which has impacted internet connectivity in India,” Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), an internet service provider, said in a statement. VSNL said its service had been “largely restored” by diverting to another cable. India said it had lost more than half of its capacity. “There has been a 50 to 60 percent cut in bandwidth,” Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India, told Reuters. He told the Headlines Today news channel that a “degraded” service would be activated by Wednesday night, but full restoration will take 10 to 15 days. Chharia said companies, including some of India’s many outsourcing businesses, had been affected.

3 2

Chronicle of Fiber Cuts
by brian 31 Jan '08

31 Jan '08

This website provides a scary analysis of the recent fiber cuts as well as a chronicle of past incidents. http://www.dailywireless.org/2008/01/30/oceanic-fiber-cut/ It is becoming clearer that the international submarine fiber game can get very dirty. Our own efforts here in Kenya to get TEAMS going have been plagued with sabotage attempts from 'competing' cable projects....... Brian

2 1

Fwd: Firms Plan Private Placements - Business Daily
by Bill Kagai 31 Jan '08

31 Jan '08

--------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stock Detective <stock.detective(a)mediacorp.co.ke> Date: Jan 31, 2008 7:42 AM Subject: Firms Plan Private Placements - Business Daily To: MediaCorp.Research(a)mediacorp.co.ke http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5597&Item… Firms Plan Private Placements Written by Emmanuel Were BUSINESS DAILY January 31, 2008: Resolution Health and MediaCorp plan to sell a stake of their shares to private investors within the year. The private placements will follow closely those of CIC Insurance and SPS, which were to be concluded last year but have been extended to accommodate the interests of investors. The insurance firm will file the placement at the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) having concluded the initial stages of the placement. "We are at a conceptual stage and we will obviously follow CMA requirements," said Peter Nduati, CEO, Resolution Health. Last week, the markets regulator issued a notice reminding companies wanting to raise money from the public to seek its approval. Resolution Health has, however, established investment groups and their members as the target market for the placement, taking a cue from CIC which was selling its share exclusively to co-operative societies and their members. Investment clubs in the country have recently been organised into a credible lobby through the Kenya Association of Investment Groups (KAIG) which now has 30 investment groups and five corporates. Mediacorp, one of the licensed Nairobi Stock Exchange data vendors, shall offer a 20 per cent stake worth Sh20 million, with the minimum amount of application standing at Sh500, 000. It hopes to raise the funds by the end of February 2008. "The funds will enable us set up an agency for stock broking services through a licence acquired from Faida Investment Bank," said Bildad Kagai, CEO, Media Corp limited. The stock broking agency, to be known as, MediaCorp Capital, will offer services in trading of equities and bonds initially to subscribers for its data vending services. It will also have its eyes on the regional market in anticipation of the formation of the East African Stock Exchange by opening four sub regional offices in Mombasa, Kampala, Kigali and Dar-es-Salaam. "We hope to become the leader of financial and stock information in East Africa," said Mr Kagai. In the case of Resolution Health, a Medical Insurance Provider (MIP), it needs to raise it core capital in line with the proposal by the Finance minister in his 2007/08 budget who proposed to increase the paid up capital of General Insurance from Sh100 million to Sh300 million. Resolution Health is looking for a maximum of 50 new share holders willing to part with Sh10 million each, taking its paid up capital to Sh610 million through the private placement. The increase in the capital will come at a time when according to the CEO, Mr Nduati, Resolution Health plans to convert to an insurance company by the end of this year as well as making a foray into the Ugandan market. The Medical Insurance Provider (MIP) whose insurance covers includes paternity, HIV and dental covers has been in the Kenyan market for the past six years. On the other hand MediaCorp began its operations in June 2006 offering subscribers access to the Nairobi Stock Exchange real time trading data via the Internet with a current subscription base of 600 subscribers. Investment groups need to broaden their portfolio to cover risks arising from uncertain times like the ones being experienced in the country presently, said KAIG chairperson Patrick Kariuki. "All investments have different levels of risk but if you hide from risk you hide from returns. Diversity helps reduce exposure to specific risks," he said during a seminar hosted by the two companies for KAIG members. Returns from the equities market have fallen sharply amid the violence set off by the outcome of the presidential election a month ago. Investors in the hard currency market, especially those who had backed the shilling to depreciate, have been the main beneficieries of the prevailing situation. http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5597&Item… -- -- Bildad Kagai MD - MediaCorp Limited Nairobi Stock Exchange [NSE] - Authorised Information Vendor Suite B2 Tetu Apartments StateHouse Avenue P. O. Box 20311-00200 Tel. 254 20 272 8332 Fax. Rendered Obsolete URL. www.mediacorpafrica.com

1 0

Day 1 of 5 - Challenges Posed by Post-Election Violence on ICT Organisations
by John Walubengo 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Greetings all, As mentioned last friday, we need to engage positively around the current crisis stalking our country. One suggested method was that we share experiences, impacts and how we are coping with the challenges occassioned. The overal aim is to enable members to learn from each other while emphasising the impact the crises continues to have on ICT organisations. Today is Day 1 and from the program below. We have 2days to share the challenges posed by the Post Election Violence on ICT organisations. I know quite abit is already shared in the press but no harm done if a brief re-run on our list for the benefit of those who may have missed out. So feel free to speak as (Telco) Operators, Consumers,ICT Service Providers(BPO,ISPs,etc) Media, Academia or all of the above ;-) walu. ~~~~~~~~Full Program~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Objectives~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Share the Challenges posed by the Post-election Violence on ICT organisations Share current interventions employed to overcome these Challenges Quantify the Impact of Post-election violence on ICT organisations Way forward and conclusions Deliverables. eWorkshop Report containing the deliberations, consensus and action points arising from the online discussions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Methodology~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Online discussion will be structured along 4 themes, to be discussed across the 5days as follows. Share the Challenges posed by the Post-election Violence on ICT organisations (2days) -Economical, Social, Technical Challenges. Share current interventions employed to overcome these Challenges (1day) -What short-term tactics are you using to work around the challenges -What are your long-term options with regard to the challenges Quantify the Impact of Post-election violence on ICT organisations (1day) -What is the toll per day in terms of lost business opportunity, man-hours, equipment, etc l Way Forward and Conclusions -1day. -what are the lessons learnt? -what can the ICT community do to accelerate 'back-to-normal' situation ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

8 15

Day 3 of 5:-Possible Interventions to overcome the Challenges
by John Walubengo 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Thanx all, it does seem we are getting somewhere in this discussion (even without the worthy services of K. Annaan ;-) Anyway, very interesting and captivating experience from both M Joseph (Safaricom) and Gilda (BPO/ISP). Ofcourse with Edith (IDRC) picking off a tangent from MJoseph contribution that treads the murky area between censorship and freedom. I would imagine that requires a whole new discussion on its own later... Bill (Mediacorp), Alex (Consumers) and Mike E.(Symphony)comments prepare us better for todays discussion. The idea of HR Counseling within organisations is a to me a frank and bold step towards admitting that theres a problem and it is being addressed. The idea of mobile broadcast SMS reminding citizens of their liability in wanton destruction of property is timely. I would add, that probably the TV broadcast should adopt a name and shame approach to this destruction. Methinks at times they broadcast this images with an angle of 'celebrating' the killings and destructions :-0( Anyway, the floor is open your contributions. 1 day only on possible interventions. But feel free to contribute on previous post (just keep correct Subject lines). walu. Share current interventions employed to overcome these Challenges (1day) -What short-term tactics are you using to work around the challenges -What are your long-term options with regard to the challenges ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

2 1

Small Medium Entreprise Symposium in March.
by Jose' 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Kimathi Information Centre P.O BOX 57741-00200 Nairobi Contact People: Carthy Atieno carthy.atieno(a)kimathiinformationcentre.com Jose Njuki-Imwe jose.njuki(a)kimathiinformationcentre.com FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE Kimathi information Centre in its quarterly year calendar holds symposiums for Small Medium Enterprises that involve networking and exposing entrepreneurs to possible business partners, mentors and loan granters. Last year we brought in up to 187 Small Medium Enterprises with much emphasis on the youth fund. This year our focus is directed to emerging entrepreneurs with the theme; Emerging People, Emerging markets, Emerging technologies. We anticipate bringing about 300 registered Small medium Enterprises, in which 50 businesses will be exhibiting their products. They in return will have an opportunity to network with fellow entrepreneurs by forming new partnerships, getting new businesses and basically enjoying the moment. Small Medium Enterprises have a challenge in keeping track. This is due to high constraints on raising proper capital and lacking mentors to guide them through the process. It with this concern that we introduce a Mentoring Clinic Tent during the one day symposium in which we shall see Professional Jornalists, Lawyers, Bankers, Telecommunication engineers and Entrepreneurs come on board to take part in this Nobel initiative. With this situation in mind, we are asking professionals to get in touch with the event organizers and be part of the mentoring tent team in which we shall give certificates to the list of professionals. We crown the day by listening to the Key note speakers from Kenya Youth Business Trust whose mandate is to give loans to viable SMEs at a reasonable rate. The symposium date will be on the Saturday, 22nd March 2008 at the kenya assemblies Of God-Bahati Estate.(Nairobi) For more information, please contact: José- 0728878744 ngunjirijnr(a)gmail.com Carthy-0724940237 atienocarthy(a)gmail.com --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

1 0

Weak Mobile Phone Signals
by Alex Gakuru 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

A mobile phone signals are very weak around the Upper Hill/Community area. As a result, for example, forced to step out of their offices subscribers at one building parking in that area constantly pace up-and down whenever they receive or have to make calls. Could the network providers check their signal strengths or explain. Or perhaps CCK should send their signal monitoring equipment to ensure service quality is constantly maintained? Are there other areas experiencing this problem? Regards, ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

2 2

REMINDER
by nancy bosire 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Dear Members and Partners, This is to remind you of tomorrows KIF and Kenya ICT Board luncheon at Nairobi Safari Club from 12.30pm to 2.30 pm. Charges are Ksh.2,000 for Members and Ksh.3,000 for Non-members. see you there. -- Sincerely yours, Secretariat Manager Kenya ICT Federation Tel: 020 4440102 Mobile: 0721907995 secretariat(a)kif.or.ke, info(a)kif.or.ke http://www.kif.or.ke Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

1 0

Re: [kictanet] Day 2 of 5 - Challenges Posed byPost-ElectionViolence on ICT Organisations
by Edith Adera 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Michael and Walu, Indeed the mood is dampened! Two points: *to Michael - I bought a scratch card this morning that gave me less money than printed on the card! What's happening? * Both of you have raised interesting issues that need further discussions - effects of the ban vs possible censorship of content by Safaricom as indicated by Michael. In a situation of media ban the only "live" coverage is informal networks and under these circumstances sms' come in very handy, so people are able to move "live" news quickly to family, relatives and friends. It worries me to hear Michael taut censorship of sms content. It raises many issues: - is there infringement of personal rights in reading people's sms content to determine which is suitable to censor? - who makes this decision? - should we feel exposed? In addition to discussing these issues, I strongly feel we need to do something practical to support those suffering..... kind regards Edith At / À 14:09 29/01/2008, Michael Joseph wrote / a écrit: >I think we are all trying to deal with the crisis which seems to grow >every day with no-one seemingly concerned enough to stop it. > >With regard to the scratch card prices, the problem was, and is still to >some extent, the disruption of our supply lines due to the violence and >the closing of the banking network for more than 10 days. In a, mostly, >informal economy, the impact of lengthy bank closures has a significant >impact on the economy and is even outlawed in some countries. The >problem is that stocks are kept to a minimum due to cash flow and >security problems. So if there is a minor blip this does lead to >significant shortages. We are looking, as are others, for alternative >solutions to deal with this problem. > >At one point we became a bank and collected billions of shillings in >cash (and stored them in our vaults) from dealers in order to get the >supply process going. > >Fortunately we never experienced severe disruption to our network except >for some areas in Western (where else) due to the inability to get >diesel fuel to some key sites. But the threat was always there. > >The other threat worth mentioning is the ever increasing hostile hate >SMSs which were circulating after the elections and continue to >circulate. We are introducing a filtering system which will hopefully >stop some of them, but we must realize that the communications networks >are vital in times of unrest and if we are forced to close down some >elements to stop these hate messages, the impact could be felt even more >widely and may even introduce panic. We must guard our freedom but we >must also act responsibly to protect that freedom. I know I am preaching >to the choir, and may even encourage some debate, but it is a fine line >in these critical times. > >Regards, > >Michael > >CEO >Safaricom Limited > > >-----Original Message----- >From: kictanet-bounces+mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] >On Behalf Of John Walubengo >Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:45 AM >To: Michael Joseph >Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions >Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 2 of 5 - Challenges Posed >byPost-ElectionViolence on ICT Organisations > >mmhh, looks like very few contributions. I understand the >dampened mood. But really, we have to talk. Unless you >guys want us to bring Koffi Anaan here to make us share... > >Anyway, Thanx Alex, Bill, and Brian for your contributions >so far. I was just thinking at a national level...the >impact so far. >1. Mobile Operators (earlier in the fracas I bought a >scratch card worth 250sh for 500sh, black market rates) >2. BPO projects (whats happening at Kencall and others?) >3. ICT Board (with World Bank threatening to hold back >funds, what happens to the Infrastructure projects that >were to provide Bandwidth to BPOs and Academia?) >4. Media (how are you coping with the live transmission >ban?) >6. ISPs, ASPs, Cybercafes (any impacts) >7. Our members in the region UG, RW (any impacts?) > >Plse talk, we have only four more days to go. It is >refreshing to talk about this things. It is part of the >healing process. > >walu. > >--- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Ok, I was silent because Brain Longwe had earlier > > asked that the list be what it was meant to be. Since > > that position has changed, I want to start with > > "funny" joke. We have a saying in this regard. > > > > Have you been one of those who have tried or struggled > > to guess the tribe of the person sending emails to > > mailing lists? Please own up:) Last week we considered > > assessing the psychological consequences the crisis > > was having on consumers with regard to email and blogs > > posts. > > > > It turned out that some tried to "align" their views > > on e-mail senders whom they perceived (or imagined?) > > to be of the same or "friendly" tribes. Our > > conclusion, listers were not tribal, yet the stress, > > politics and media had forced them to seek tribal > > alignments. We were happy to discover that. > > > > Next we discussed tensions at workplace Telkom Kenya > > being our sample. We learnt how badly it had divided > > staff there. We overheard employee conversations! We > > wished companies would hold extra parties to lessen > > tensions at work. I have just noticed a ke-users > > lister has posted a very positive message. Their HR > > department today held an organisation-wide > > counselling session. That was excellent. All companies > > should start similar initiatives. Thanks Saidimu! > > > > > > Terrible for us because when we engaging Telcos and > > ISPs we never ask for okuyu, jang or kale etc tariffs > > or quality of service standards. Our engagement covers > > coast to lake, Turkana to Namanga, Garissa to Busia. > > > > At such moments, Information and Communications > > Consumer protection is more than ever necessary. We > > are battling rights of the people know on one hand, on > > the other we are urging responsibility to accompany > > freedom of expression, fighting against ban on live > > broadcasts also aware of the dangers of misuse, > > against sms sniffing very aware of misinformation > > dangers. > > > > We noted and appreciated the media's own intervention > > early and responsibility but also appreciate the role > > of government to protect everyone. > > > > This thread is on the challenges hence I stop there > > for now to hear others' lest I be accused of > > monopolising on opinion. I will be back;) > > > > Regards, > > > > > > Alex > > > > > > --- John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > >________________________________________________________________________ >____________ > > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. > > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > > > > > >________________________________________________________________________ >____________ >Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. >http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >This message was sent to: mjoseph(a)safaricom.co.ke >Unsubscribe or change your options at >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mjoseph%40safaricom >.co.ke >The information in this email and any attachments is confidential and may >be legally privileged. It is intended only for the use of the named addressee. >Emails are susceptible to alteration and their integrity cannot be >guaranteed. Safaricom Limited does not accept legal responsibility for the >contents of this email if the same is found to have been altered or >manipulated. >The contents and opinions expressed in this email are solely those of the >author and do not necessarily represent those of Safaricom Limited. >Safaricom Limited disclaims any liability to the fullest extent >permissible by law for any consequences that may arise from the contents >of this email including but not limited to personal opinions, malicious >and/or defamatory information and data/codes that may compromise or damage >the integrity of the recipient's information technology systems. >If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender and >immediately delete this email from your system. > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >This message was sent to: eadera(a)idrc.or.ke >Unsubscribe or change your options at >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eadera%40idrc.or.ke -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

5 4

Alari fundraiser
by Rebecca Wanjiku 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Hi Just to let you know Alari Alare's fundraiser will be held tomorrow (Thursday) 6pm at Tanager bar and restaurant. Funeral arrangements will be availed during the fundraising. Please come or send your donations. I am sure Alari touched you in one way or another. -- Regards, Becky ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

1 0