Bwana PS, While i agree with you that government must facilitate the small enterprises, i think we must also stretch our government efforts to grow our established enterprises to become regional and multinationals. For example, government should challenge such enterprises with "big government project" which would stretch them to expand or join forces in consolidation etc. Generally, we know that SMEs grow economies but in the globalised era, multinational corporations have become "an extenstion of the state" and so we must work towards enlarging our coast in that direction and playing in that space. I see some Kenya businesses that are at that point and we must move in on them. Eric here On 12 Feb 2008, at 17:36, bitange@jambo.co.ke wrote:

We are working towards that. We need private sector to push these developments. Government is not good in business. We can only intervene to facilitate especially the small enterprises.

Ndemo

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-----Original Message----- From: "Eric Osiakwan" <eric@afrispa.org>

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:22:38 To:bitange@jambo.co.ke Cc:KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fibre Optic Cables

Nothing against all the big guns establishing in Kenya but what about a long term objective of building our own version of Akamai,googles, Limelights etc.

Dont forget the real winners in the knowledge era are those who produce their own not use others. So our long term objective should be to have our own alongside others because it is a free market economy.

Eric here

---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Michuki Mwangi <michuki@swiftkenya.com> Reply-To: michuki@swiftkenya.com Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:14:04 +0300

...

bitange@jambo.co.ke wrote:

...

Good news is that Etisalat (our partners in Teams) in conjunction with Akamai are building an Internet Point of Presence (POP) in Fujaira thus eliminating long distance needs for Internet in this region.

The long term objective should be to have the likes of Akamai, Limelight and google collocating their nodes in Kenya. This will essentially keep at least 50% of our Internet traffic local.

Regards,

Michuki.

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-- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 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"

On 14 Feb 2008, at 22:07, Michuki Mwangi wrote:

I think i missed your response following that someone did turn the thread into a different discussion item all together. Nonetheless, my initial response was in appreciation that we only stand to benefit if the big guns host locally.

I agree but i also indicted that our long term plan should be to have our own in addition to them hosting locally.

Lets face it; we are late entrants into the "content" arena. Apple, Microsoft, Norton et al are less likely to give their content business (in the immediate future) to an African based CDN. There's however a more likelihood that they can pay for Akamai & others to bring their content closer to their clients in Africa.

Principle; the last can be first and the first can be last. Example: India is leading the software revolution today but they were not the first. Advise; Africa can focus on content and build it up to become "primus inta paris". Actually a good academic professor friend of mine with whom i disagree on a lot of things , do gree with me that content is the only frontier that Africa can have leverage in the knowledge era so we should focus on cultivating same. Another buddy argues that "wireless: is it, however the sum total is that you need content to run through the wireless and wireline creations in the long term.

On the other hand, Akamai is less likely to be attracted to Nationmedia.com etc but an African CDN will most likely eyeball on such clientel. Therefore there's an untapped opportunity for hosting of local content (as it develops) and thats where our big guns will rise from.

While i agree with you startegically, allow me to present the case of producing and hosting our own content internally. My emphasis is on growing a content producing and hosting industry.

...

Dont forget the real winners in the knowledge era are those who produce their own not use others. So our long term objective should be to have our own alongside others because it is a free market economy.

This calls for a greater understanding of the "interconnection, peering and transit" economics and models. This is what significantly influences where the Akamai's & others setup shop. If you recall the Net- Neutrality debate which highlighted some of the challenges of these models & agreements.

So being a real winner in the knowledge era is producing your own content and being able to sell it profitably to a as many consumers as "internetly" possible :)

Michuki, you have spoken on this score like 3-wise men and i can't help but applaud your submission. Eric here

Regards,

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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"