E-READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NORTH ... - Kunnat.net

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Act, which set up the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) an independent
industry regulator with the mission to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans by ensuring
the availability of accessible, effi cient, reliable and affordable ICT services.
Kenya’s telecommunications and broadband market is undergoing a revolution following
the arrival of three fi bre optic international submarine cables in Kenya in 2009
and 2010 (Seacom, TEAMS and EASSy), ending its dependency on limited and expensive
satellite bandwidth. Bandwidth prices had already fallen signifi cantly following
the liberalisation of international gateway and national backbone network provision
in 2005, but they have now fallen by 90%, enabling cheaper tariffs for telephone calls
and broadband Internet services. However, Internet service providers (ISPs) have only
reluctantly passed on the cost savings to end customers, which has prompted the industry
regulator to consider price caps.
Besides tariff regulation, other regulatory issues on the agenda in 2010 include interconnection,
number portability and universal service.
A simplifi ed and converged licensing regime introduced in 2008 has lowered the
barriers to market entry and increased competition by allowing operators to offer any
kind of service in a technology – and service-neutral regulatory framework.
Several fi bre infrastructure sharing agreements have been forged. At least six major
deployments of WiMAX technology are underway and 3G mobile broadband services
with up to 7.2Mb/s have been launched. Advanced services such as IPTV/triple-play,
e-commerce, e-learning and e-government are now rapidly evolving.
The country’s incumbent fi xed-line telephone company, Telkom Kenya, is revamping
its infrastructure and services under the Orange brand with fresh capital from its
new majority shareholder, France Telecom. It has also re-entered the mobile market
and has embarked on a strategy to transform itself into a true broadband connectivity
provider.
The Internet fi rst became available in Kenya to in 1993. Full Internet access was
established in 1995. Since many people do not have fi xed phone lines, computers, or
electricity, internet shops, known as cyber cafes, provide access to internet and email.
This is mainly in the major towns. Kenya has 10 fi xed phone lines per 1000 people.
For mobile phones, the number is 50 phones per 1000 people. In Africa, about 100
million out of the total 906 million people now use cell phones. Many users in the urban
areas run their own small businesses. In the rural areas, cell phones are mostly used
in social circles.
A major factor that may have infl uenced the use of ICT both positively and negatively
is the use of the English language. English is the offi cial language in Kenya.
Information technology services are largely based in English, so this is an advantage.
However, there are at least forty tribal languages in the country, and this sometimes
presents problem in content creation.
5.5 Kenya Telecommunications Profi le 2010
Telephones - main lines in use
243,700 (2008)
Telephones - mobile cellular
16.304 million (2008)
Telephone system
General assessment: inadequate; fi xed-line telephone system is small and ineffi cient;
trunks are primarily microwave radio relay; business data commonly transferred by a
very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system
Domestic: no recent growth in fi xed-line infrastructure and the sole provider, Telkom