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Reliance to build submarine cable to rival EASSy
by Rebecca Wanjiku 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

some food for thought before the friday meeting........ Reliance to build submarine cable to rival EASSy By A CORRESPONDENT The EastAfrican Reliance Corporation, one of India's largest information technology firms, says that it will construct a submarine cable along the eastern Africa seaboard by 2009. The fibre optic cable, the company said recently, will link South Africa and Kenya, and also serve Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique and Madagascar as well as some land-locked countries. The cable link will be laid down by Reliance subsidiary, Flag Telecom Last December, Reliance announced that it would invest $1.5 billion to put up the world s most extensive Internet access network through submarine cables covering more than 60 countries. News of the latest plans to lay a cable along the eastern seaboard are likely to cause a certain level of alarm among the partner states involved with the controversy-prone East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) cable. By last December, only 12 countries out of the targeted 23 stretching from South Africa to the Sudan had pledged support to the project. Proponents of an eastern seaboard fibre optic cable say that it would lower Internet slashing bandwidth costs by as much as a third, and spur the development of outsourcing centres along the eastern coast to compete with similar centres in Asia. Valued at $300 million, EASSy itself is planned to run from Mtunzini in South Africa to Port Sudan in Sudan, with landing points in six countries, and connected to at least five landlocked countries. The thinking is that these countries will subsequently no longer have to rely on expensive satellite systems to carry voice and data services. The project, to be funded largely by the World Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, was initiated on January 2003. Since inception, however, the EASSy project which is now expected to be completed by the end of 2008 has been dogged by disagreements over financing and access among partner states, with Kenya opting to sit the project out. Kenyan officials were reportedly particularly peeved by South African efforts to control the project, reports indicated. Last September, Kenya announced that it would seek funding to finance its own undersea cable running from Mombasa to Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman in a bid to accelerate the emergence of the country a business outsourcing centre. The cable, Nairobi said, would be made available to any interested party along the way. Analysts say that the announcement by Reliance, by introducing a third player, could change the dynamics somewhat, raising the possibility that the Kenyan government may seek a partnership with the Indian multinational to counter-balance the South African-led EAS http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/News1902078.htm _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ It's here! Your new message! Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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FOI meeting Tuesday feb 20
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

just a reminder that the meeting on FOI at KSMS will take place tommorrow please plan to attend KICTANet will present a report of the just concluded list discussion ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL

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TYCO WINS CONTRACT TO BUILD KENYAN GOVT’S FIBRE CABLE
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

more background info for the friday meeting....... TYCO WINS CONTRACT TO BUILD KENYAN GOVTS FIBRE CABLE Communication in Kenya is to set for a major revolution, following the start of an undersea fibre optic link to the rest of the world through Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. American company Tyco last week won a contract to undertake a marine survey that should be ready in two months, at a cost of Sh187 million. The Government will invite bids any time from now for a financial arranger who will design a plan to raise money for the project, tentatively expected to be complete by early next year. The contract will be awarded competitively by April this year. The Government, through Telkom Kenya, is working with Dubai-based Etisalat, a telecoms company, to build the cable. The private sector will be invited to either buy shares, or to prove its capacity to raise funds through plans worked out by the financial arranger. Information and Communication minister Mutahi Kagwe says fast-tracking the East African Marine System (Teams) will ensure that Kenya does not lag behind in information and communication technology (ICT). "The East African coast is the only one without a fibre optic cable. We are racing against time," he said. The cost of data transmission would come down, leading to lower cost of communication. The price of a megabyte is expected to plunge from a high of Sh490,000 (US$7,000) to Sh14,000 (US$200). All East Africa countries are part of the project, while Ethiopia wants to join them. The project was conceived by the Kenya Government after it became evident that a similar one from South Africa to Port Sudan, popularly called East Africa Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSY) would not take off. Kenya declined to sign the EASSY project protocol, citing inclusion of the New Partnership for Africa Development (Nepad) into the programme without specifying its mandate. Also, Kenya opposed Nepad's attempts to own the project, saying the group should not be involved as that would negate its noble concepts. The country also took issue with non-involvement of the private sector as it would be difficult to implement the protocol without it, once it was signed. But Kenya will not pull out of EASSY. It will remain a key participant and use it as back-up should there be any breakdown of Teams project. "We decided to work on a parallel project after it became difficult to make decisions on the EASSY one. The latter had too many players, some of whom were coming in every other day. But we will be involved in the project...The more the cables, the better. That will induce competition, which will bring down the prices". (SOURCE: The Nation) _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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NCC DEMANDS US$150M FOR 3G LICENCE IN NIGERIA
by alice＠apc.org 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>From Balancing Act ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NCC DEMANDS US$150M FOR 3G LICENCE IN NIGERIA The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has placed a reserve price of US$150 million on its Third Generation (3G) licence that it plans to issue in seven categories through public auction from April 2, this year. NCC's Head of Public Affairs, Dave Imoko, disclosed in Abuja that the licence to be offered include universal access, digital mobile, fixed wireless access, and metropolitan fibre cable network licenses. Other spectrum on the card were the national carrier and the private network link licenses. He explained that bidders have up to Feb. 16, to submit their letters of interest, but warned that companies applying for the licence must have no link whatsoever. Imoko said the adoption of the auction process in the issuance of the licence was to ensure fairness and promote competition among existing telecommunication operators in the country. The issuance of the 3G licence has been limited to existing GSM operators and is expected to enhance the quality of GSM services and reduce tariffs on subscribers. The spectrum blocks to be made available for auction include the 40MHz of spectrum within the 2GHz band. The Commission, according to him, would offer the spectrum as four paired blocks of 10 MHz. Spectrum pairs, he added, would be separated by a 90MHz duplex spacing. "Blocks will be allocated as follows, Block A:1920-1930MHz paired with 2110-2120 MHz, Block B: 1930-1940MHz, paired with 2120-2130MHz, Block C: 1940-1950, paired with 2130-2140MHz and Block D: 1950-1960MHz paired with 2140-2150MHz." The statement added that "Spectrum will be allocated on a service and technology neutral basis without the specification of guard bands. Licensees will be required to co-ordinate spectrum use to avoid interference. "However, applicants according to the notice will not be required to submit financial or technical plans in the pre-qualification process, except details of company ownership structure and confirmation of compliance with the rules of the auction. "To participate in the auction, a bidder must be a limited liability company incorporated in Nigeria and must not be involved with any other bidder. "A Consortia according to the statement may bid for a licence subject to the requirement that they include a Nigerian telecommunications licensee. Bidders will also be required to lodge a $15million dollars (i.e.10% of Reserve Price) Intention to Bid Deposit with the Commission. The auctioning process will commence on the second of April following the receipt of the expression of interest on February 16, while issue of information memorandum a week later. (SOURCE: This Day)

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Balancing Act Top Story: THE AFRICAN LAKES SALE – QUESTIONS BEGIN TO PILE UP
by alice＠apc.org 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>From Balancing Act TOP STORY: THE AFRICAN LAKES SALE – QUESTIONS BEGIN TO PILE UP _____________________________________________________________________ The sale of African Lakes (the owner of pan-African ISP Africa Online) has had more twists and turns than a Grand Prix race-track. Everyone involved – those selling the company and the two potential buyers – probably only agree on one thing: the sale ought to have been done by now. Russell Southwood looks at the lengthening number of questions emerging from this deal not yet done. On 28 January 2007 in issue 340 we announced erroneously that African Telecoms Company (ATC) had secured 52.66% of African Lakes and increased its offer to £18.50 a share, giving the deal a total value of GBP5.04 million. So in one corner you have African Telecoms Company, a grouping that includes Richard Bell, Kenyan ISP Wananchi, several local Kenyan investors and the US Schneider Media and Holding Group. And in the other corner is South African incumbent telco Telkom that is trying to put together a regional acquisitions strategy that will equip it to face a competitive future. True to form, it refused to say what it was doing: “The reports linking Telkom SA as a bidder for Africa Online are speculative and Telkom will not comment on media speculation”. Telkom had made no public offer at this point despite having been in discussion since an earlier point in 2006. The African Lakes Board did not recommended the ATC offer on the basis that it could obtain more money for shareholders from another bidder, the as-yet-unnamed Telkom. In the third corner is African Lakes that is chaired by David Montgomery, whose main claim to fame has been cutting the cost base of the UK’s Mirror Newspapers after the death of Robert Maxwell. ATC thought it had secured victory because it had acquired an “irrevocable” on the shares of one of the key shareholders, RAB Capital (18.9% of the total shareholding at that point). On 8 February ATC formally issued notice of its increased offer. The offer expires on 23 February. This triggered two things: a frantic scramble by ATC and African Lakes to sign up shareholders to their cause and the need for the somewhat indecisive Telkom to issue a public bid. In its 12 February press release announcing the Telkom bid African Lakes said it had “received strong support for it from shareholders holding more than 60% of the voting rights of the Company. Unfortunately the Panel ruled on Friday that of this number shareholders holding 18.9% of the voting rights cannot have their support counted in favour of the Telkom disposal as their voting rights have passed to ATC as a consequence of them accepting the ATC Offer prior to the Board concluding its negotiations for the Telkom Disposal. Furthermore, attempts by these shareholders to have their acceptances withdrawn were also deemed invalid under the conditions of the ATC Offer”. The Telkom offer was for what was claimed would be £25 per share, valuing the deal at £9.72m. But it emerged on 15 February that as it would only be buying what must be the controlling Africa Online Company – Africa Online (Mauritius) - it would not be dealing with the historic liabilities of African Lakes as a company. These would be dealt with using the cash from the deal and shareholders would be paid on liquidation of the African Lakes Company. Shareholders were assured that the offer figure of £25 a share had been based on a company audit of liabilities. On the same day it issued a correction saying an audit of liabilities had not been completed. Indeed a review of liabilities had only been started. The fight to gain shareholder acceptances was clearly getting tight as on 14 February African Lakes issued a notice saying that it had exercised various share options and issued more share to T Hoare Nominees, Lesley Davey and Paul West: the latter two are both senior Managers of African Lakes and Board members. Furthermore it issued shares to African Lakes employee, George Ezzat. On being rung by a member of the ATC consortium, it is alleged that Ezzat was unaware that the shares had been issued to him. This has been a dense and often complicated struggle for the company and in the interests of comprehension we have sought to summarise events above. But the number of questions that need answering just keeps getting longer: - If there is no audit of African Lakes’ liabilities, how can the company say with any confidence what the final outcome price of the Telkom offer will be to its shareholders? - What were the circumstances in which shares were issued to George Ezzat? Why (as alleged) did Ezzat know nothing about this share option issue when asked about it by an ATC shareholder? Why were additional share options granted during what was clearly an offer period when at least two offers were being publicly discussed? - It is not clear what number of subscribers Africa Online has but it is certain that it has fewer than the figures named in the last publicly available documents. What is the number and what is the Average Revenue Per User? It is one thing for a group of private investors to take a risk of this magnitude but how does a publicly quoted company like Telkom think that it will make a return on the purchase price? What expertise does Telkom have to run a pan-African retail ISP in competitive environments? What has been the success of its existing pan-African connectivity sales operations? Africa Online has the potential to become a pan-African player in the new competitive landscape that includes both voice and data. But it will need determined and experienced management capable of investing more than the purchase price to take it from where it is now to a successful future. Faced with these two potential buyers, who would you choose to carry out this task? ____________________________________________________________________

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Day 4: What Data should be exempted from the Act (access) &
by joseph kihanya 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

Dear All, Thank you for all your comments over the last 3 days. Today's theme is veru crucial in that FOI as a right is limited for certain public policy/interest considerations in almost all jurisdictions.The question is how many(how far should they go) of these restrictions should we have and why? The list under the policy are; National security Privacy Confidentiality Public safety Decision making processes Article 19 has under this heading in its Principles of FOI said; PRINCIPLE 4. LIMITED SCOPE OF EXCEPTIONS Exceptions should be clearly and narrowly drawn and subject to strict harm and public interest tests All individual requests for information from public bodies should be met unless the public body can show that the information falls within the scope of the limited regime of exceptions. A refusal to disclose information is not justified unless the public authority can show that the information meets a strict three-part test. The three-part test the information must relate to a legitimate aim listed in the law; disclosure must threaten to cause substantial harm to that aim; and the harm to the aim must be greater than the public interest in having the information. No public bodies should be completely excluded from the ambit of the law, even if the majority of their functions fall within the zone of exceptions. This applies to all branches of government (that is, the executive, legislative and judicial branches) as well as to all A complete list of the legitimate aims which may justify non-disclosure should be provided in the law. This list should include only interests which constitute legitimate grounds for refusing to disclose documents and should be limited to matters such as; law enforcement, privacy, national security, commercial and other confidentiality, public or individual safety, and the effectiveness and integrity of government decision-making processes. Exceptions should be narrowly drawn so as to avoid including material which does not harm the legitimate interest. They should be based on the content, rather than the type, of the document. To meet this standard exceptions should, where relevant, be time-limited. For example, the justification for classifying information on the basis of national security may well disappear after a specific national security threat subsides. Refusals must meet a substantial harm test It is not sufficient that information simply fall within the scope of a legitimate aim listed in the law. The public body must also show that the disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to that legitimate aim. In some cases, disclosure may benefit as well as harm the aim. For example, the exposure of corruption in the military may at first sight appear to weaken national defence but actually, over time, help to eliminate the corruption and strengthen the armed forces. For non-disclosure to be legitimate in such cases, the net effect of disclosure must be to cause substantial harm to the aim. Overriding public interest Even if it can be shown that disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to a legitimate aim, the information should still be disclosed if the benefits of disclosure outweigh the harm. For example, certain information may be private in nature but at the same time expose high-level corruption within government. The harm to the legitimate aim must be weighed against the public interest in having the information made public. Where the latter is greater, the law should provide for disclosure of the information. Let us have your views Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

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OFC meeting on February 23
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

hi, i am glad that you are planning to come for the OFC meeting at the jacaranda this friday, please fwd your confirmation for logistic purposes, some people have confirmed, so theres no need to reconfirm am waiting for that email. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.yahoo.com

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WIRELESS NET NEUTRALITY [Tim Wu]
by Alex Gakuru 17 Feb '07

17 Feb '07

WIRELESS NET NEUTRALITY: CELLULAR CARTERFONE AND CONSUMER CHOICE IN MOBILE BROADBAND [SOURCE: Tim Wu, Professor, Columbia University School of Law] Over the next decade, regulators will spend increasing time on the conflicts between the private interests of the wireless industry and the publics interest in the best uses of its spectrum. This report examines the practices of the wireless industry with an eye toward understanding their influence on innovation and consumer welfare. In many respects, the mobile wireless market is and remains a wonder. Thanks to both policy and technological innovations, devices that were science fiction thirty years ago are now widely available. Over the last decade, wireless mobile has been an infant industry, attempting to achieve economies of scale. That period is over: today, in the United States, there are over 200 million mobile subscribers, and mobile revenues are over $100 billion. As the industry and platform mature, the wireless industry warrants a new look. This report finds a mixed picture. The wireless industry, over the last decade, has succeeded in bringing wireless telephony at competitive prices to the American public. Yet at the same time, we also find the wireless carriers aggressively controlling product design and innovation in the equipment and application markets, to the detriment of consumers. In the wired world, their policies would, in some cases, be considered simply misguided, and in other cases be considered outrageous and perhaps illegal. Four areas warrant particular attention: 1) Network attachments, 2) Product design and feature clipping, 3) Discrimatory broadband services, and 4) Application stall. http://www.newamerica.net/publicati \n \n---------------------------------------------------------- \n WWWhatsup NYC \nhttp://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com \n---------------------------------------------------------- \n \n \n \n\n \n __._,_.___\n \n \n \n \n Messages in this topic (1)\n \n \n \n Reply (via web post)\n | \n \n Start a new topic \n \n \n \n \n Messages \n | ",1] ); //-->ons/policy/wireless_net_neutrality ---------------------------------------------------------- WWWhatsup NYC http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com ---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users.

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Fw: [COMO Alliance] Oxford Media Law Fellowship
by Florence Etta 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

FYI. Sorry for cross posting. Cheers, FE Subject: Oxford Media Law Fellowship Dear Friends, Please see attached and circulate... The time allocated for the process is quite tight! "The closing date is no later than 5.00 pm on the 2nd March. Applications received after this time will not be considered. Please quote reference CX07002 in all correspondence. FAX or e-mail applications will not be accepted. Short-listed candidates will be asked to attend an interview around mid-date." "Mid-date" seems to be mid March! Thanx, Best wishes, David _______________________________________________ COMO_Alliance mailing list COMO_Alliance(a)lists.asc.upenn.edu http://lists.asc.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/como_alliance ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

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Day 5: How would users update their data ? and WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD
by joseph kihanya 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

Dear All, I am posting this out before Day 5 (tomorrow). It may be that we can take comments on both Day 4 and 5, just as we may take comments on any of the earlier days. No comments are in yet on Day 4. The question of the correction of data held by public bodies and sometimes by private bodies is one that generates interest considering that wrong entries may cause one to suffer hardship or miss on entitlements. Consider the case of retirees and a pension scheme or that of a medical case file.In the latter case, in an emergency, would it be crucial that all your details, including allergies, blood types etc, be absolutely CORRECT? Lets have some views. Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

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