Hi,
When the migration from analog to digital was
initially raised fear was put into the public on how there would be no
option but to throw away our analog TV sets and replace them with
Digital.
Now that digital transmission is finally here we need to
look at how to make the migration as painless as possible while at the
same time we do not disenfranchise any citizens.
It has been
mentioned that there are over 1 million TV sets in Kenya today, that
means 1 million digital to analog converters will be required over the
next 2-3 years.
I believe this is a great opportunity for us to
go into the electronic assembly business, I would like to propose that
we 1st increase duty on converters from the current 35% to 250% so as to
discourage the importation of the converters.
Then exempt from
duty and vat all assembly stations, test equipment and components for
anyone who sets up a converter assembly plant, with a 3 year tax
holiday. If you setup the plant more than 200 kilometers from
Nairobi or Mombasa you receive an addition 2 years tax holiday.
I
believe this will sort out the issue of substandard converters and will
also provide an opportunity for us to develop our electronic devices
assembly skills.
If you make a net profit of 1,000/- there is a
clean 875,000,000/- to be made, close to what the government is spending
on purchase of the Malili farm. This is assuming a standard device,
there is still a market for those who want high end devices with
recording, tuners, USB ports, etc which would mean that the returns
could be much higher than projected above.
So will we move away
from juts being importers and retailers or do we have what it takes to
do some value add?
Regards
Robert Yawe
KAY System
Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi,
00200
Kenya
Tel: +254722511225,
+254202010696 |