IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Kenya has shifted attention to local content generation and hosting as a way of pushing down Internet connectivity costs as the SEACOM and TEAMS fiber-optic cables have failed to live up to the hype of low costs.

The country is hoping to learn from the West Africa region, which has not enjoyed low Internet costs despite having an SAT-3 fiber-optic connection since 2002. The government and Internet service providers are banking on local content to push down the costs.

These, in return, will not only create jobs, but also technical skills transfer, innovation and increased entrepreneurial activity that further bolster a nation’s competitiveness in the global economy.

In recognition of these benefits, the country needs to consistently put its money where its mouth is. However, looking at the new budget estimates, something is not clicking right.

Kenya on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations that seeks to boost the development of Konza Technopolis, located about 70 km south of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya Stephen Jackson said the agreement will provide a raft of interrelationships with various UN agencies based in Nairobi.

This will see the two countries construct at least 5,000 affordable homes in Mavoko and Tatu City.

• The mobility plans are expected to meet the urban functions of the Konza Technopolis.
• The Korean Trade Centre (KOTRA) managing director Eom IK-Hyun said that Korea shared similar interests with Kenya when it comes to Smart Cities.

The government has signed an MoU with the Korean government to foster and promote partnerships and investments in the development of smart cities in the country.

A national ICT Accessibility Standard is set to be developed in Kenya. This is thanks to inABLE, a nonprofit organisation that empowers the blind and visually impaired with computer assistive technology, partnering with the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).

A first in Africa, the development and eventual enactment of a National ICT Accessibility Standard will promote the digital inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) and older persons. This will help make public and private sector digital products and services (including websites, mobile applications among others) more accessible and usable by all Kenyan citizens.

Speaking during the launch of the Communications Commission of Kenya’s (CCK) five-year strategic plan, Fred Matiangi, cabinet secretary for ICT, said the government is planning to increase ICT contribution on GDP from 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent within the next five years.

• ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng' says work to increase the bandwidth capacity to be completed in two or three months.

Kenyans will from June start experiencing faster Internet speeds as the government completes plans to increase capacity by up to tenfold.

ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng’, during a visit at the Telkom Kenya offices in Mombasa, said due to the increased Internet usage in the country, the ministry is expanding the bandwidth for increased efficiency.

This is in addition to the establishment of the region’s first digital city at Athi River town near Nairobi.

Information Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo said although expensive, satellite cannot be disregarded as it will help provide the last mile solution to consumers.

“We have done a lot of work in terms of fibre optics both undersea and terrestrial, but fibre is not a substitute of satellite communication and you can never cover the whole country using fibre optics,” he said.

The government has secured an additional US$55.1 million to scale up digital inclusion, content development, and e-government and shared services. According to the World Bank ,the new funding will increase financing under the Kenya Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project to US$169.5 million.

Dubbed "Mobilising public services in Africa" the Informa Telecoms & Media's White Paper, available at the ongoing Africa Com event in Cape Town, ranks Kenya after South Africa and ahead of Egypt as an African country most ready to embrace mobile government services.

Joint authors of the Informa's report Nick Jotischky and Sheridan Nye however note that until now mobile government implementations have been far slower to take off in Southa Africa than in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

The policy document will guide the country’s ICT direction in the next three years.

In the new plan, three key ICT projects have been identified including a Citizen Service Portal, Government Shared Services and National Digital Registry Services.

As part of implementing the proposed government's e-policy, the Kenyan ICT board is reportedly in negotiations with global ICT infrastructure firm EMC of the US.

The company is the world's largest storage computer maker, providing data centre storage, data consolidation and virtualization including, data security among other solutions.

Commenting on the findings, the Acting Director of Kenya Investment Authority Mwalimu Musee said the sector is currently focused on the local market, providing banking, insurance, cables and telecommunication services, alongside other utilities.

South Sudan’s ICT minister Rebecca Joshua Okwaci and her Kenyan counterpart Fred Matiang’i signed the memorandum of understanding Friday that will actualize laying of the cable from Eldoret to Juba.

The project, to be funded by World Bank, is set to run concurrently with the construction of the Northern Corridor road network.

The legislation, which the Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) has learned about is at an advanced stage, and is expected to spur e-commerce and put Kenya at par with other nations, which have embraced the same. It means that individuals and businesses within and outside Kenya will be able to transact without necessarily seeing or even having to know each other physically.

As a result corruption thrived in its corridors as brokers took turns to squeeze bribes out of desperate Kenyans eager to lay hand on official files.

The files would walk away, literary, as you watched. They would also appear if you bribed!

Kenya ICT (KICT) Board Chief Executive, Mr Paul Kukubo, says plans are at an advanced stage to engage and finance selected broadband providers to offer BPO entrepreneurs subsidised services.