By Macharia kamau, A presidential directive freezing the reduction of mobile termination rates (MTRs) has rendered irrelevant a prime ministerial task force set up to establish how reduced MTRs affect the economy and mobile phone operators. By the Standard @ http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000036808&cid=14& ~~~~~~~~ I get worried when I read headlines like these.  Is it really true or a case of being misquoted. I have a big problem when a Regulator receives explicit instructions from Statehouse=President? particularly when we have been successfull in pretending that the Regulator is truly independent. In the new constitutional dispensation, this can quite backfire and leave more egg on Statehouse.. walu.

I agree. Statehouse should not be drawn in such murky waters. But then, there has is an interest to be protected. On 09/06/2011, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> wrote:

It's a bad precedent that Airtel and Safaricom have been bypassing the Industry regulator to go lobby at such high levels in efforts to protect their markets from each other.

I do not think it's a good decision, how many technocrats are at state house vs at CCK?

Indeed a desperate move and one that has neither moral nor legal basis. What a mockery of a futile attempt of by-passing regulatory regime. It is CCK that will be the "loser" if it cowardly allows a clear abuse of Section 5(b) of Info and Comms Act. Cofek will be seeking clarification from concerned parties. We must never allow State House to conduct sector regulatory matters, whether pro or anti-consumer. Rgds Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> Sender: kictanet-bounces+stephen=cofek.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 12:17:55 To: <stephen@cofek.co.ke> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/stephen%40cofek.co.ke 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.

From the article, it appears the CCK board and MOIC carefully considered the 'request/directive' from statehouse and have a justification for it: "There was a feeling that we had moved too fast with the issue, and the decision is meant to give

@Mwale, Since am not onsite i dont have the finer details.  But at a glance, and I hope am wrong, my interpretation was that one of the big players (read Safcom?) may have engineered  a regulatory coup by getting Statehouse to issue an intervention/injunction that stopped the Regulator from issuing  further inter-connection price reductions. By the way, am on record on this list and others as one of the strongest opponents of these price-wars (i dont believe they are sustainable when done in isolation of other factors) and  therefore I  do support the rationale behind the intervention. HOWEVER I do not believe that such an intervention should be coming from Statehouse - irrespective of its merit. If Statehouse has a position on an industry issue, they should channel them through existing regulatory processes as defined by the Communication Acts and corresponding Regulations - anything else exposes you and gets the likes of Mutoro (no offense ;-) running legitimately to court. In addition you create a situation where everyone is trying to go to State house to have their industry issues sorted out and this disadvantages those Operators who have no leverage power to meet the tenant at State house and props up new power-brokers (we have enough at CCK) to provide access to the top. walu. --- On Thu, 6/9/11, Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars To: "Walubengo J" <jwalu@yahoo.com> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 12:54 PM Walu, Are you saying that a request, even a reasonable one, from statehouse should never be considered by the regulator if they are to remain independent? players a chance to step back and evaluate the effects that the significant reduction in MTRs has had," Ndemo told The standard in an interview. I think 'independence' of a regulator does not disqualify them from receiving requests from statehouse or any other party. If the regulator can deliberate on the issue/request and then act in the best interest of the nation, I think they are still independent. In this case, the government, the regulator and all the operators seem to be agreed on the issue and hence I do not expect any backfiring, unless the consumer disagrees furiously. Best regards, Jotham K. Mwale --- On Thu, 6/9/11, Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Walubengo J <jwalu@yahoo.com> Subject: [kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars To: jokilimo@yahoo.com Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 12:38 AM By Macharia kamau, A presidential directive freezing the reduction of mobile termination rates (MTRs) has rendered irrelevant a prime ministerial task force set up to establish how reduced MTRs affect the economy and mobile phone operators. By the Standard @ http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000036808&cid=14& ~~~~~~~~ I get worried when I read headlines like these.  Is it really true or a case of being misquoted. I have a big problem when a Regulator receives explicit instructions from Statehouse=President? particularly when we have been successfull in pretending that the Regulator is truly independent. In the new constitutional dispensation, this can quite backfire and leave more egg on Statehouse.. walu. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jokilimo%40yahoo.com 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.