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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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Lessons from Loon:
by Adam Lane 01 Feb '21

01 Feb '21

My thoughts for those who might be interested... https://blog.huawei.com/2021/02/01/lessons-from-loon-connecting-unnconnecte… [cid:image002.png@01D6F87F.3BEDBEE0] Lessons from Loon & Connecting the Unnconnected ByAdam Lane February 1, 2021 Source of main image: Loon<https://loon.com/press/> News that Loon was winding down operations because "we haven't found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business<https://medium.com/loon-for-all/loon-draft-c3fcebc11f3f>" came as a disappointment to many, and rightly so. It is hugely difficult to provide connectivity in very remote areas, and any new technological innovations that could do so would be welcomed particularly in Kenya and Mozambique where operations were quite advanced. What may we be able to learn from this announcement? There are lessons around costs, and more importantly, around revenues. The first lesson is around costs. A typical base station can cost anywhere from US $20,000 to US $80,000 depending on factors like how it gets backhauled to the Internet (e.g., via satellite, microwave, fiber or LTE relay), the size of the actual tower itself (the taller a tower the easier it is to provide wider coverage), power costs (e.g., solar-powered with batteries if grid electricity is not available and can lower long-term operating costs), and the equipment on the tower. The balloons that Loon used also incurred costs, including the balloon itself, 4G equipment, and the use of lasers for backhaul. These lasers transmitted the Internet from the ground to a single balloon and then between different balloons - innovative technology which is still being used in other projects outside of Loon. For Loon, one challenge was that each balloon only lasts a few months and thus needs to be recovered and then relaunched, adding a great deal to the cost even if the technology on the balloon can be re-used. Consider, for example, balloons that are currently launched only from Puerto Rico and Nevada and then spend weeks travelling across to Africa. In the industry we talk a lot about Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expenditure (OPEX). For a base station, CAPEX is buying the equipment and building the base station, which is a one-time cost and may last a decade or more. The tower itself can last multiple decades, even if equipment on it may need to be replaced. OPEX for a rural site may be quite low if the tower has no power costs and uses solar panels with batteries and the site rental is low. In this case the main operating cost is backhaul costs, which partly varies by demand. A telecom company thus faces significant up-front costs and then hopes to reclaim the revenue over years, ideally around 2 to 3, sometimes around 7. But some sites may never recover the costs, and thus those sites rarely get built without subsidies. Loon seems like it has quite significant CAPEX and OPEX if the balloons have to continually be replaced to refill the helium, and that may be one of the reasons the costs are not as low as desired. Maybe with time the balloons could be improved to last longer, or maybe with greater scale, more manufacturing, launch (and helium refill) sites could be built closer to where they are needed, which would reduce costs. As the balloons move around, there is a large minimum number of balloons necessary to ensure good coverage of any particular location which is a large cost, even with Loon's impressive algorithms managing the balloon's movements. It seems that Loon has decided it might not be able to get the costs low enough, or is not willing to keep investing any longer to reach the point at which it can get them low enough. The second lesson is around revenue. As well as costs, perhaps the bigger challenge is revenue. Enabling Internet use is the key, not just providing Internet coverage. But in rural areas revenues are typically very low due to few users, the low income of those users, and thus the low average revenue per user (ARPU) for service providers. Loon was supposed to help overcome this by covering a very wide area, which could have many more users per balloon than a typical base station (200 times more, according to Loon). However, providing wider network coverage does not mean there will be more users, or that they will spend money on telecommunications. In a remote area that previously did not have coverage, very few people will have a phone or smartphone. Why would they, if there was previously no coverage? They need to be able to afford one, as well as the electricity to recharge the phone on a daily basis and the Internet service fee for voice, the Internet, mobile money, or other value-added services such as agricultural information services or education content that might not be free. Few actual services may be useful for that person-in other words there may not be a website or app that meets that person's day-to-day needs in a language they understand, because they are likely to represent a minority market. As a result, they may not spend much money once they are online. On top of that, they may not know how to use a smartphone or the Internet in general. To overcome all of these issues would require a tremendous ground operation: making the people on the ground aware there is Internet, explaining why and how it would be useful to them, helping them get a device and power, which might require donations or loans, showing them how to use that device, and so on. Then there is still the challenge of those users being on a low income. Thus even if there was an incredible use case, they might struggle to pay for it at least in the short-term. Maybe if such an operation took place, it would have generated more revenue, and thus made Loon worth it. On the other hand, such an operation may just increase costs even more (especially an operation in very remote and sparsely populated areas) that the business model is even harder to be viable. Providing network coverage is not enough without these complementary activities; many mobile network operators are increasingly investing in such initiatives to enhance their business case, but these may not have happened with Loon's partners-or they may not have shown results quick enough. So, the lesson is not just about costs, it is about understanding the complexities of the revenue side of the equation as well. These cost challenges are similar for traditional base stations, though they may be easier: when someone builds a tower you see it and know it is there; the telco staff who build the tower could also market and sell the benefits of the Internet or devices, or provide skills training for a few days after building a tower, or they could license an agent in the village who would sell internet services. This requires people on the ground who would not be there if there is just a balloon floating overhead. Finally, for those who invest in base stations, and design them with low operating costs, they can afford to wait several years until they recoup their costs, and then begin to make profits, since the infrastructure will stay there for a long time. It also makes it easier for governments to offer subsidies to build that infrastructure, as a one-time subsidy, than a recurring subsidy. Loon has announced a package of US$10 million to help support various related efforts in Kenya to support those in Kenya who might be affected by the loss of Loon's service. This could make a real difference. As could the many programs that Google, a sister company to Loon, has been running for many years to provide digital skills, one of the barriers identified above. So the lessons from Loon are not just about the needs for innovative technology that might reduce costs of providing Internet coverage, though that is still true, but about the needs for more investments in increasing revenues-providing devices, power, relevant content, awareness of that content, and skills to use the devices amongst many others. Loon's efforts were welcome and some of their technologies no doubt will be re-used in other ways, whilst the lessons learned may well help others working on similar initiatives. Their willingness to take risks, invest, and innovate is commendable and hugely necessary if we are try to solve the problems of rural Internet use (not just coverage). There are many efforts underway around the world in this area, but it is not enough. Let's work together to do more!

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Re: [kictanet] Why Kenya is NOT ready to deploy 5G technologies
by SAMUEL O. 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

The telcos in kenya are very innovative so sooner you will find them in the 5G space On Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 7:56 PM Adam Lane via kictanet < kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > Check out the comments on the KICTAnet LinkedIn post > > https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6756955985018920960 > > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > M: +254-790985886 > Deputy CEO, Government Affairs > Huawei Kenya > *From:*Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> > *To:*Adam Lane <adam.lane(a)huawei.com> > *Cc:*KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > *Date:*2021-01-25 18:37:39 > *Subject:*Re: [kictanet] Why Kenya is NOT ready to deploy 5G technologies > > > > On Mon, 25 Jan 2021 at 18:32, Adam Lane < adam.lane(a)huawei.com> wrote: > >> Odhiambo >> The launch of 5G services is dependent on spectrum... Once an operator >> gets enough of it, and agrees a fair price, operators in Kenya will launch. >> >> The problem is the lack of a strategy that would define "enough" and >> "fair price"... >> >> Then there are all the other aspects mentioned in the kictanet report, >> such as industry and academic collaboration, various use case pilots etc. >> which would then maximize the impact of 5G if done well and help speed up >> that impact. >> >>> > Thanks Adam. > > This reminds me that I needed to read that report to see the "use case" - > because for me, I am happy with 4G :-) > > -- > Best regards, > Odhiambo WASHINGTON, > Nairobi,KE > +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 > " Oh, the cruft. ", grep ^[^#] :-) > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ochiengsoja%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. >

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