Dear Florence, You are not far from the gospel and your striking of the emergency key is more eminent. All hands on deck, please. Eric here On 19 Mar 2007, at 16:31, Florence Etta wrote:
Hi all, Seems to me, like Eric says, that KICTANet should waste no time to call a series of emergency meetings or convenings to take proactive action on the ICT Board; delibrate and elaborate on who ought to be represented on that board before the decision is taken and it will be too late to influence it. Or is the board already constituted? If so what part did KICTANet play in this? Or what does it envisage for its ( the ICT Board) future actions and directions?
Secondly, it is time to call a cross sectoral meeting to discuss the serious consequences of the absence of an SNO and devise a practical way forward which should then be forwarded to the appropriate government or other responsible for their attenion e.g. CCK, Infocom Ministry. The problem affects all of us and we all should show good will by being involved in a constructive way.
Cheers,
FE
Florence Etta P.O. Box 14285,00800 Westlands-Nairobi, Kenya Tel: Mobile + 254-733-621851 Terrestrial: + 254-20-7121506 Fax: + 254-20-7125732 Alternative Email:florence.etta@gmail.com
----- Original Message ---- From: Eric Osiakwan <eric@afrispa.org> To: feanywhere@yahoo.co.uk Sent: Monday, 19 March, 2007 12:45:24 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] RELIANCE MISSES OUT ON SNO LICENCE IN KENYA
Muriuki,
Issues well raised and am sure the government would like to listen.
I would suggest that a KICTANET meeting at which the larger framework of vertical as opposed to horizontal layering or unified licensing as opposed to Open Access of the communication system is discussed in detailed with the pros and cons. This meeting should end with some majority consensus and should have all the stakeholders so that as sector we are clear at least on the framework of our engagement going forward.
I would also submit that a seperate meeting at which the local ownership of foreign stake and the mechanism for SME uptake as well as growth path is clearly outlined so that whiles you need some big fishes now you can also create your own big fishes in the future and more so as the sector progress with time.
Eric here
On 19 Mar 2007, at 11:58, Muriuki Mureithi wrote:
It is time we reviewed the bidding system this country has adopted to remove conflict of policy interest and move this country forward. We must address ourselves to the purpose of the licence - is it to make money for the government to fill treasury gaps or to expand the telecommunications infrastructure. By demanding to have the cake and eat it, we are nowhere 5 years after starting the process of SNO and Third Cellular Operator. It is a lesson well documented in countries that Kenya copied ref Senegal and Malawi among others. At the heart of the conflict is a government stating that ICT is the driver of growth yet put barriers which cripple the operators even before they start.
The requirements of local partnership while sweet for political reasons is difficult to realise because the international partners have inadequate time to assess the right partner and hence the problems for SNO and third cellular
We need immediate action - first, scrap the requirement of 30% local owner by the time of application of licence but require that within 3 years the winner has brought on board local shareholders through the stock exchange and raise ownership to at least 49% by year 5 of operation . This has worked well for Tz - Second, the licence is not a cash cow - we need infrastructure badly now therefore that licence money should be invested to enable the new entrant to compete with the incumbents and roll out rapidly . Licence should not cost more that USD1. What the entrants should compete with is the cash they will invest in Kenya and the timeline. -finally, CCK should address the anomaly of conflicting policies it issues. In 2004, CCK issued a policy which translates to adoption of horizontal licensing regime to move away from vertical licensing regime. The SNO licence is in direct contradiction of the 2004 policy. Was the policy rescinded? The danger of the unified licence is that it denies Kenyan ICT entrepreneurs a natural growth path and condemns Kenya to permanently have few mega operators and many small operators without a path to migrate from small to big. Should the envisaged fast growing economy to vision 2030 be hinged on few mega operators whose power can sometimes rival the regulator? We need a paradigm shift towards horizontal licensing
Cheers Muriuki Mureithi
--------------------------------------- Summit Strategies Ltd - ICT Consultancy & Research in Eastern & Central African markets Contacts : Tel +254 (20) 3875824 , Cell + 254 (722) 520090, email: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke alternate email : muriuki.mureithi@gmail.com
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces +mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of alice Sent: 19 March 2007 09:01 To: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke Subject: [kictanet] RELIANCE MISSES OUT ON SNO LICENCE IN KENYA
From BALANCING ACT:
RELIANCE MISSES OUT ON SNO LICENCE IN KENYA
The Communications Commission of Kenya has cancelled a tender for the second national operator (SNO) licence that it had awarded Reliance Communications, after the consortium failed to pay for the fees.
This is the second cancellation, after CCK annulled the licence it had given a consortium led by Dubai-based Vtel Holdings in January, for failing to pay the US$169 million (Sh12 billion) licence fee it had bid.
Reliance, which was the second highest bidder at US$111 million (Sh7.8 billion), was allowed to apply for the licence, but on condition that it pay Sh12 billion to match Vtel's bid. Reliance confirmed that it would take up the offer and requested for more time to prepare for the licence.
CCK said last week Reliance had a deadline of March 15. "By the expiry of the said deadline at 4.00 p.m. yesterday (Thursday) Reliance Communications had not made a formal application for the licence as required," CCK said. The Commission's director-general John Waweru said they had resolved to immediately restart the tendering process for the licence. (SOURCE: The Nation)
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Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
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Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"