Hello listers, The narrative that CA has just set aside a budget of Ksh. 85 million to link remote areas with mobile voice is erroneous and misleading. The Universal Service Fund is a huge programme whose activities are guided by detailed research. A lot has been achieved so far in line with the mandate given to CA by the Law. As a reminder, the Kenya Information Communications Amendment Act of 2009 (KICA 2009) created the Universal Service Fund (USF) whose objective is to support widespread access to ICTs including related human capacity building and technological innovations in the ICT sector. The Act mandates the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) with the administrative and management responsibility of promoting universal access and services with respect to the provision of communication services in Kenya. The USF is expected to provide incentives for infrastructure roll-out in unserved and underserved areas. To support the foregoing, the Authority in May 2016 concluded a Study on ICTs Access Gaps which established that population coverage in Kenya for 2G and 3G stands at 94.4% and 78% respectively, while the land coverage for 2G and 3G is at 45% and 17% respectively for all the three Mobile Network Operators i.e Safaricom (K) Limited, Airtel (K) Limited and Telkom Kenya Limited. To close the identified gaps in the different service areas, Authority has developed a 5-year USF Implemetation Strategy to guide the activities of the Fund for the next five years FY 2017/18 to FY2022/23. One of the five strategic focus area is basic voice infrastructure program whose objective is to facilitate development of basic mobile infrastructure to the whole country Turkana and Marsabit Counties included. The ICTs Access Gaps study using GIS and Access Gap Model methodology identified 348 sub-locations, which were established to meet the critical performance criteria suited for “smart subsidies”, meaning that the projects would be sustainable. In the FY 2017/18, the Access Gaps Study prioritized the closing of gaps in 202 prime sub-locations, covering an unserved population of approximately 700,000 persons. The project design took into consideration the 2016/18 licence obligations of Safaricom and Airtel for network expansion, together with which, the project targeted reducing the coverage gap of basic voice services from 5.6% of the population to 2.8% by 2018. Update on the Voice Infrastructure Projects The voice infrastructure projects were developed and tendered in the FY 2017/18 and as single or multiple bidding lots to Network Facility Providers (NFP) Tier 1. The 202 sub-locations were tendered in 105 bidding lots. The licensed mobile network operators were invited to bid competitively for as many or few of the Lots as of interest to them. The Authority has awarded contracts to Safaricom and Telkom Kenya to close the voice gaps in 78 sub-locations at a cost of Kshs 1.245 Billion. Among the beneficiary counties in Kenya are Turkana, Samburu, West Pokot, Baringo, Marsabit, Isiolo, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Tana River, Kwale, Kajiado and Narok. The Education Broadband Connectivity Project Within the current FY 2017/18, the Authority awarded the Education broadband contract to three Tier 2 operators, namely; 1) Ms. Xtranet Communications Limited – 284 schools 2) Ms. Commcarrier Satellite Services – 291 schools 3) Ms. Liquid Telecommunications Ltd – 321 schools Status of Implementation of the Education Broadband Connectivity Project To date, the Authority through the contracted firms, has successfully installed broadband connectivity in 843 (94%) of the expected 896 beneficiary schools. The contractors have given strong indication that the remaining 53 schools will be fully connected before end of February 2018. The total contract amount for the Education broadband project is Kshs 837 million. We hope that this helps to put the fund implementation into perspective. As always, we remain available to respond to any enquiries. We shall be having a stakeholder briefing soon and KICTANET listers as our stakeholders, shall be invited to the forum. Regards, Rachel Alwala Assistant Director/Communications and External Affairs Communications Authority of Kenya PO Box 14448 Nairobi 00800 Tel: +254 703042000 Email: alwala@ca.go.ke From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Reply-To: KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Date: Monday, February 26, 2018 at 3:09 PM To: Rachel <alwala@ca.go.ke<mailto:alwala@ca.go.ke>> Cc: Rachel <alwala@ca.go.ke<mailto:alwala@ca.go.ke>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] CA¹s Sh85m plan to link remote areas with mobile voice Dear listers, I hear the conversation going on with respect to the subject matter. There are many developments and very shortly, before COB , I will be posting the implementation status for your information and understanding. Sometimes when we share information, it is picked in piecemeal and potentially distorted. That seems to have been the case in this particular respect. Regards, Rachel From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Reply-To: KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> Date: Monday, February 26, 2018 at 2:53 PM To: Rachel <alwala@ca.go.ke<mailto:alwala@ca.go.ke>> Cc: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com<mailto:adam.lane@huawei.com>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] CA’s Sh85m plan to link remote areas with mobile voice Yes, certainly annual progress reports would be helpful From:Barrack Otieno To:KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Cc:Adam Lane Date:2018-02-26 14:46:38 Subject:Re: [kictanet] CA’s Sh85m plan to link remote areas with mobile voice Hi Adam, In light of the intense criticism the USF board has received, it needs to come out strongly and clarify what it has achieved unless it is not independent as we are made to beleive. Regards On 2/26/18, Adam Lane via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
I believe the fund already connected about 70 rural sites (as well as several hundred schools) last year so has begun to make progress. From:Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet To:Adam Lane Cc:Mwendwa Kivuva Date:2018-02-26 14:36:09 Subject:Re: [kictanet] CA’s Sh85m plan to link remote areas with mobile voice
Ksh85m is too little too late from a fund that has collected billions. Running a single BTS is resourse intensive. It requires physical security, generators, power lines, road access, human resource ... and much more.
Spending the USF on benchmarking trips and allowances seems the modus operandi of this board. For the upteenth time, I also join Ali's call for the board to be disbanded immediately. ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya twitter.com/lordmwesh
On 26 February 2018 at 08:09, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Victor
As they say in accounting terms - That’s not even a rounding error in the scheme of things.
CA needs to be more creative than this. Here’s a thought:-
Disband the moribund USF Board and get people who are independent, forward thinking and unafraid to do the right thing.
Let’s stop pussyfooting around such a big issue when a large swath of this country is being disenfranchised by lack of connectivity while we continue to pat ourselves in the back as the ‘Silicon Savannah’.
Ali Hussein Principal Hussein & Associates +254 0713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle
Sent from my iPad
On 26 Feb 2018, at 7:36 AM, Victor Kapiyo via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) will spend millions to build infrastructure to connect remote villages without mobile voice coverage following an order by President Uhuru Kenyatta to surrender unspent billions to the police.
Mr Kenyatta said the authority had nothing to show for the billions of shillings it has collected for a fund established to support infrastructure in remote areas dubbed the Universal Service Fund (USF).
Now, CA has announced plans to spend Sh85 million in connecting 23,000 residents in six sub-locations in Baringo County to mobile voice coverage.
85m only.
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/CA-s-Sh85m-plan-to-link-remote-a...
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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.
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Domain Registration sponsored by www.eacdirectory.co.ke<http://www.eacdirectory.co.ke>
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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.
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