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Update on Kenyaś OOXML Vote
by Dorcas Muthoni 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

I just made contact with one of the committee members and i am told that the vote went Yes in Kenya last evening. We had a problem in that out of 12 members in the committee, 7 were from Microsoft or were Microsoft dealers/partners and were actually brought into the committe by Microsoft. I am told the vote was: 9 - Yes (Microsoft and dealers/partners, 1 university, I society) 2 - No (Kenya Airways and IBM East Africa) 1 - Abstain (Kenya Bureau of Standards and Committee Secretariat) This committee met only 5 times. Once i get the official copy of this ballot, i will post more information. The committee was not representative of the industry. Most members representing the various organisations were not experts in the subject matter from my analysis. I attended part of the meeting yesterday. Muthoni

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board members
by Rebecca Wanjiku 15 Aug '07

15 Aug '07

in case you were wondering who are the other board members, here the names The other members are: Richard Bell Catherine Adeya Peter Kimacia Kevit Desai Kiptiness from CCK. Getting a board nowadays is very difficult as you must take into account many issues. I hope we got the bast here. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ --------------------------------- Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us.

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I Want The Earth Plus 5 per cent
by Alex Gakuru 14 Aug '07

14 Aug '07

Want to know why money-makers aspire to be Fabian? <snip> "Fabian was excited as he once more rehearsed his speech for the crowd certain to turn up tomorrow. He had always wanted prestige and power and now his dreams were going to come true. He was a craftsman working with silver and gold, making jewelry and ornaments, but he became dissatisfied with working for a living. He needed excitement, a challenge, and now his plan was ready to begin...." This meant that for every $100 he held in deposits, it was possible to make 42% profit, most people believing he was only making 2%. The other goldsmiths were doing the same thing. They created money out of nothing at the stroke of a pen, and then charged interest on top of it.... <snip> See http://www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html [Posted by Ashok Hariharan to skunkworks mailing list http://ole.kenic.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks] ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/

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Say NO to OOXML campaign
by Judy Okite 13 Aug '07

13 Aug '07

Dear Listers, Just to alert you on the ongoing campaign.......this product is substandard,but M$ is determined to launch it. Please do not get caught in between and make a wrong decision.... briefly scrutinize the links below and make a well defined decision. Say NO to this product,sadly M$ has a strong hold in our country,but its within your rights to demand for a worthy product.do not be fooled/coarsed or get caught in marketting gimmick. Please spread this news out and wide. Kind Regards, The campaign to stop Microsoft getting the Office format approved by ISO is on. MS's OOXML has been proved to be long, incomplete, patented,and unsuitable as an ISO standard. There is also an existing standard, ODF, as you know. The FFII has been fighting OOXML in Europe and Latin America, and FTISA has beat it in South Africa. Together with these guys, we should be able to kick OOXML out of the rest of Africa. There are ISO votes in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote-d'Ivoire, Botswana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Congo. Microsoft have, I heard, gone to Nairobi in force to try to force the vote there. What we need to do is work with the ISO national boards to understand that OOXML is really broken, and we then need to make sure those boards can't be stuffed with Microsoft puppets, as happened in the US, Italy, Azerbaijan, Romania, and elsewhere. We just want national boards to vote "NO" until all the technical problems in the format are fixed. The FFII has collected information on this campaign, see www.noooxml.org. But to start with, I'd like to invite you to join this mailing list: https://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/noooxml-africa Thanks, - Pieter ph(a)imatix.com -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there."

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Tanzania: City Launches Own Local Internet Exchange
by Alex Gakuru 13 Aug '07

13 Aug '07

[Guys, I hope am not such a bore to stop your full enjoyment of Freedom of Expression but just for moment look over yonder. Ugandans too are moving very fast. Thanks Cece for this pointer - Alex] Tanzania: City Launches Own Local Internet Exchange Point Arusha Times (Arusha) By Valentine Marc Nkwame 11 August 2007 Arusha <snip> Arusha has just become the first non-capital urban center in East and Central Africa to have its own Internet Exchange Point, a physical infrastructure that allows different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to connect to each other and exchange local traffic between their networks by means of mutual peering agreements. <snip> http://allafrica.com/stories/200708120056.html ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/

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Re: [kictanet] board members - Procedure for appointment?
by John Walubengo 11 Aug '07

11 Aug '07

Fatma, All details for the ICT Board were contained in the corresponding Gazette Notice. A quick browse on the government sites, Parliament http://www.bunge.go.ke/ and Ministry of Info and Comm http://www.information.go.ke/ gave me no reference to the document. So I am compelled to tread carefully and find out if the said Gazette notice is for public consumption and if so, why it is not available in electronic form...I know I sound like the KANU days are back but hey, the environment may have changed but the laws (Secrecy Act and its cousins) are still pretty much the same... walu. --- Fatma Bashir <fbashir(a)cyberschooltech.com> wrote: > Walu > > hi, might you know what the mandate of the ICT board is? > in terms of > hierachy as well, will it be like Rwanda's RITA ? > > Fatma > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Walubengo" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> > To: <fbashir(a)cyberschooltech.com> > Cc: "Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet" > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 11:31 AM > Subject: Re: [kictanet] board members - Procedure for > appointment? > > > > Lizette, > > > > FE's contribution to ICT in Kenya is quite exceptional > and > > outstanding. However, when it comes to sitting on > > non-elective boards, other factors tend to override. > > > > The legislation (Gazette Notice) for the Kenya ICT > board > > and other similar boards accross the world leaves the > > search and appoint procedures at the pleasure of the > > President and his respective minister. Now, in a market > > with excessive ICT and related talent like Kenya, one > can > > only understand if some qualified members miss out > > (including me maybe? ;-) > > > > Nevertheless, what matters is if the new board can > deliver > > the anticipated benefits within reasonable timeframes. > And > > I believe the six or seven of them will not succeed > without > > the input the likes of FE et al. > > > > walu. > > > > > > > > --- Lizette Kraft <lfkraft(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> Congratulations to all the Board members!! > >> > >> On the other hand, It's amazing how Dr. Florence Etta > was > >> not given the > >> opportunity to be nominated and/or participate on the > >> Board!!! As one of > >> the key founders of KICTANET and the name and having > >> contributed > >> extensively to ICT as a whole in everyway!!!! Have we > >> forgotten so fast!!! > >> With no disrespect intended to anyone, but I must ask > - > >> Is this the Kenyan > >> way of doing things??? I am sure most of you will > agree > >> that at least > >> Florence should have been nominated or asked to > >> participate as a board > >> member. It was then upto her to decide if she was > >> interested to or not, and > >> of course then, the voting or whatever would have been > >> done to determine the > >> members, or so I would think. Is this what everyone > >> agreed to?? would be > >> good to know. > >> > >> Sorry but its always hard for people to be upfront, > >> truthful and bold enough > >> to ask and I think it's only fair to raise this. What > >> method > >> was used to select the board members??? Important for > >> all to be informed. > >> > >> > >> Thanks to all > >> best regards > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> On 8/10/07, Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com> > >> wrote: > >> > > >> > in case you were wondering who are the other board > >> members, here the names > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > The other members are: > >> > Richard Bell > >> > Catherine Adeya > >> > Peter Kimacia > >> > Kevit Desai > >> > Kiptiness from CCK. > >> > > >> > Getting a board nowadays is very difficult as you > must > >> take into account > >> > many issues. I hope we got the bast here. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > Tel. 254 720 318 925 > >> > > >> > blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ > >> > > >> > ------------------------------ > >> > Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. > Join > >> Yahoo!'s user > >> > > >> > > > panel<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48516/*http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_pa…>and > >> lay it on us. > >> > > >> > > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > kictanet mailing list > >> > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > >> > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >> > > >> > This message was sent to: lfkraft(a)gmail.com > >> > Unsubscribe or change your options at > >> > > >> > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/lfkraft%40gmail.com > >> > > >> > > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Lizette Kraft > >> P.O. Box 18488, 00500 > >> Nairobi, Kenya > >> Cell: 0722-800362 > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> kictanet mailing list > >> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > >> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >> > >> This message was sent to: jwalu(a)yahoo.com > >> Unsubscribe or change your options at > >> > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com > >> > > > > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > > Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. > Join Yahoo!'s user > > panel and lay it on us. > > > http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: fbashir(a)cyberschooltech.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/fbashir%40cyberschoolt… > > > > > ---------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > --------------------------------------------- > "easy access to the world" > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC

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Thumbs-up ECK - Confirm your Polling Station via SMS
by Alex Gakuru 10 Aug '07

10 Aug '07

List M8s, On behalf of consumers, allow me to declare Mr. Samuel Kivuitu (i.e.ECK) ICT compliant. This morning, I composed an sms - typed only my National ID No and sent that sms to 020-4605872. Within seconds I received a reply sms that read: >From ECK ID No: XXXXXXX(I've masked my ID No) Voters Name: ALEX GAKURU Voters Card No: 005/012/1570733010 Constituency: 005-DAGORETTI Polling Station: 012-JAMHURI PRI. SCH. Status: OK On further inquiry, I found out this sms is charged at normal rate (shs 5/=) and that anyone can query/confirm their polling station from Safaricom, Celtel or Telkom CDMA phone. The service is powered by Telkom Wireless technologies. For delivering the ECK register to consumers' hands and so conveniently we are delighted with ECK's visible electoral transparency. We only hope every public body emulated ECK and offered similar services. We would be happy to do e-government business this transparently. Thank you Alex Gakuru > -- > website: http://www.billowsbpo.co.ke/ > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7

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Fwd: African Telecoms Billing And Revenue Management Forum
by Mike Theuri 09 Aug '07

09 Aug '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: yamanjanl <yamanjanl(a)yahoo.com> Date: Aug 9, 2007 3:49 AM Subject: [Fikara] African Telecoms Billing And Revenue Management Forum To: Fikara(a)yahoogroups.com African Telecoms Billing And Revenue Management Forum Event Registration Register online or Call: Customer Services Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 7483 Email: registrations(a)iir-telecoms.com Mon 03 Sep 2007 - Fri 07 Sep 2007 Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa Building on the resounding success of IIR's 3rd Annual African Telecoms Billing and Revenue Management Forum in September 2006, IIR is delighted to announce the dates and venue for the 2007 event. Join us this September in Cape Town and benefit from an event offering 5 focused days of conference and seminar sessions addressing. The event will bring together leading operators and operators to address commercial address the specific Revenue Management and Billing challenges currently being faced by African Telecoms Operators and Service Providers. The event attracted 120 delegates from across the African continent and Gulf States last year. This forum presents an invaluable opportunity to hear real-world experiences in a series of cutting- edge case studies and workshops led by African and European Operators. The weeklong event offers two back-to-back conferences: the format is fully flexible allowing delegates to attend either the full five days to gain a complete overview of Billing and Revenue Assurance/Management strategies or individual conference days depending on their particular professional interests. Who Will Attend?The conference is specifically designed for: Decision-makers from fixed, mobile, prepaid, post paid, Internet, broadband and convergent Operators from EMEA, with responsibility for: Billing / Prepaid * Customer Care / CRM * IT/MIS/ICT/Mediation * BSS / OSS Implementation * Systems Development * Network Engineering * Finance / Accounting / Audit * Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management * Interconnect / Partner Administration« Business Strategy / Development * Pricing, Rating, Marketing and Sales Regulatory agency executives and senior government officials with oversight for the regulatory framework within the telecom industry Senior banking executives with responsibilities for managing lending and financing activities to the telecom industry Legal practitioners, external auditors, management consultants and risk management experts serving the telecom industry Key PresentationsKey topics to be addressed include: Developing A Successful Billing System Implementation Strategy: Creating A Benchmark For Implementation And Project Management Best Practice Exploiting Prepaid Recharge Mechanisms To Maximise Revenues By Boosting Both Customer Acquisition And Retention Examining How The Increased Convergence Of Telecoms With Other Industry Sectors Will Impact Key Revenue Protection Functions Like Billing, Revenue Assurance And Fraud Management Deploying A Prepaid Charging System To Effectively Deliver Prepaid Content And Next Generation Services Developing Mobile Banking Services To Generate New Revenue Streams Understanding Why It is Essential For African Operators To Move Beyond Revenue Assurance To Revenue Management To Successfully Respond To Emerging Requirements Of A Fast-Paced And Increasingly Convergent Telecoms Market Addressing The People Factor In Revenue Assurance And Billing – Finding, Retaining And Training Staff With The Appropriate Skills Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) To Benchmark And Quantify The Performance Of Your Revenue Assurance Strategy Developing A Successful Revenue Assurance Solution Implementation Strategy: Creating A Benchmark For Implementation Best Practice Understanding How To Structure An RA Team And Where To Position It Within The Company For Maximum Benefit Addressing The Challenges Of Managing Revenue Assurance For Prepaid Services Minimising Cost And Revenue Losses Incurred By African Operators Through Infrastructure Failure, Damage And Theft Key speakers include: Susan Burger, Group Revenue Assurance & Interconnect Manager, MTN Group Albert Salima, Billing Manager, Celtel Zambia Ehtisham Rao, Director Billing, Mobilink Ebele Eghobamien, HOD Wholesale Billing Services, Revenue Management Division, Celtel Nigeria Andreas Krebs, Senior Product Manager, Partnering & Innovation, O2 Germany Bernard Wole Ilori, Manager, Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, Globacom Mike Nelson, Specialist, Business Analysis, Telkom SA Dennis Baguyo, Senior Billing Manager, Celtel Group Henry Whyte, General Manager/Revenue Assurance, Ghana Telecommunications Johnson Bareyei, Head Billing and Customer Management, Topcom Nigeria Syed Thameen, Revenue Assurance Manager, Celtel Uganda Elliot Mashumba, Service Risk Manager, Econet Wireless Johan de Wet, Senior Manager, Revenue Assurance and Accounting, Group Finance, Telkom SA http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-conf/Telecoms/EventView.aspx? EventID=1082&SearchResult=http%3a%2f%2fwww.iir-events.com%2fIIR-conf% 2fSearchEvents.aspx __._,_.___

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[Fwd: Key CTO Forum in Kenya to examine solutions to African rural connectivity]]
by alice 09 Aug '07

09 Aug '07

Any members interested in attending this forum? Please let me know off line. Thank you best alice -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [kictanet] Key CTO Forum in Kenya to examine solutions to African rural connectivity] Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 12:15:02 +0300 From: alice <alice(a)apc.org> Organization: Association for Progressive Communications (APC) To: alice(a)apc.org CC: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> CTO Forum in Kenya to examine solutions to African rural connectivity Africas search for real solutions that will lead to the early connection of the nearly 80% of the Continent that is still without telephone and internet access will take a giant leap forward when ministers, regulators, operating company executives and high-level officials from various development partner agencies converge in Nairobi for the Connecting Rural Communities Africa Forum 2007, and is preceded on the 20th August by a meeting of the Commonwealth Connects programme. The Forum is taking place at the Grand Regency hotel in Nairobi, Kenya from the 21st to the 24th August. This key event, organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and hosted by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), will provide a forum for discussion of research findings, policy options, regulatory strategies, business models, financing and investment facilities, available technologies and public-private-people-partnerships that could enable improvement in African rural connectivity. The Conference proceedings are expected to contribute to a major study to be launched by the CTO on Africas Rural Connectivity within the context of the Commonwealth Connects programme, and recommendations from the Conference will go a long way to outline the agenda for subsequent meetings, workshops, programmes and projects in the sector. The advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing nations are facilitating socio-economic development, as well as the general progress and well-being of individuals and communities. ICT has been identified as playing a leading role in enabling countries to attain their Millennium Development Goals, such as the elimination of poverty, combating of serious disease, improving access to education and providing equal opportunities to women. This conference will discuss each of these issues and highlight the work of African governments, regulators and the private sector in providing universal access. For ICTs to be sustainable and provide widespread ubiquitous access to all citizens, it is generally considered imperative that governments, regulators and the private sector work together to provide solutions and enhance connectivity. As part of its commitment to bridging the digital divide, the CTO has produced this knowledge-sharing event, designed to bring together the giants of the ICT sector, from both the public sector, private companies, the development and academic community and civil society, especially non-governmental and community-based organisations. CTOs CEO, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, states: We are delighted to be able to assemble such a high faculty of speakers and delegates from all over Africa, and also from many other regions of the world. Participants in this Conference are those who have come to acknowledge that of all the challenges the global community faces in the ICT sector, that of connecting Africas rural populations must be the epi-centre. All who are committed to the use of ICTs to advance the development process should be interested in this fundamental challenge. We look forward to seeing and meeting with as many of Africas development and investment partners as possible. The CTO Conference will significantly contribute to the development of universal access to ICT in the African region. Based on the success of last years CTO event on Connecting Rural Communities in Abuja, Nigeria, the CTO has decided to increase the duration of this years forum to three days to incorporate a Focus day which will cover amongst other things, telemedicine and improving the accessibility of education. The Conference be preceded by a half-day workshop on the use of satellites to connect rural communities in the afternoon 21st August; a half-day meeting between the CTO and heads of Universal Service Funding agencies in Africa, on the morning of 21st August, and by another all-day meeting on 20th August of representatives of African Commonwealth countries whose Points of Contact will discuss various issues involved in the Commonwealth Connects programme, that has been mandated by Commonwealth Heads of State and Government. According to an official of one of the several companies that has agreed to sponsor the event, Connecting Rural Communities Africa is a timely opportunity for all stakeholders who are spearheading rural connectivity to network, discuss best practices for harnessing ICT to deliver socio-economic benefits, share strategies for connecting rural Africa and consider different solutions for bridging the digital divide through sustainable ICT connectivity. For more information and to register to attend, or for opportunities to support this event, contact: Toby Davies Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation Tel.: +44 870 777 7697 t.davies(a)cto.int <http://mailer.eddiction.co.uk/_webscripts/emaillog.php?789c35cbcd0a80201004…> *** About the CTO - The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society organisations. It provides the international community with effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development, by delivering to developing countries unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the specific areas of telecommunications, IT, broadcasting and the Internet. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: alice(a)apc.org Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alice%40apc.org

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[Fwd: Support A Digital Village (Centre, School, or Kiosk) In Kenya]
by alice 09 Aug '07

09 Aug '07

Dear Friend, To assist the Government of Kenya to rapidly and successfully implement the Digital Village Project in all 210 constituencies, ICTvillage.com is coordinating a public private partnership (PPP) to take ICTs to the rural and peri-urban areas all over Kenya. If you would like to support a youth or womens group, faith-based or community-based organization, primary or secondary school to set-up and run a digital village in the rural or peri-urban areas of Kenya then click on www.ictvillage.com/dvn_dve_3a.asp to apply online on their behalf. As a digital mentor, you will assist your chosen beneficiary to participate in a Digital Village Network that adopts and transforms existing computer facilities (cybercafe, computer lab, training centre, etc.) into world-class branded digital villages. Constituency development is not reserved for politicians. All Kenyans have an obligation to assist the less fortunate in our midst. ICT initiatives like the Digital Village Project presents us with a golden opportunity to stimulate economic and social development for all Kenyans. Let us work together to fulfill this noble and innovative vision. You can change lives by supporting rural communities via digital villages. Please visit our website, www.ICTvillage.com, for more information on digital villages and how to participate. Best Regards, Anne Mutugi, General Manager. -------------------------------------------- ICTvillage.com, Idea Factory Limited, The Office Park, Riverside Drive. Tel: 254-020-444-9277 254-020-444-7655 Fax: 254-020-444-9210 PO Box 12 - 00606, Sarit Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.

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