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Introduction Since 1994 when the Internet was introduced in the country, there has been phenomenal growth in its use. By the end of 2005, there were numerous Internet hosts and up to 100 Internet service providers and about 300,000 Internet users in the country.
Overall, telecommunications and Internet services are central to effective and efficient business and communication, hence an integral ingredient for economic growth. ICTs contribute to the improvement of the working of markets as well as in the reduction of transaction and coordination costs within and across organisations and countries. They can help in improvements in productivity and quality in a number of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, public administration, education and training, finance and business. This is why the Kenya Government has put a lot of emphasis on the reforms and expansion of the telephony sector. The reforms have seen the publication of policy frameworks to provide the roadmap as the country walks through new direction. Among the policy documents are Telecommunications and Postal Sector Guidelines that gives an out-line of the development strategy for the sector. Lately, the Government has published a National Information and Communications Technology strategy paper that provides the framework for the development of the information and communications technology infrastructure. The ICT sub-sector, how-ever, has to contend with a number of challenges including: low penetration levels due to high costs, large number of poor people who cannot afford the services, lack of infrastructure including electricity, illiteracy and some unresponsive policies. Highlights of Contrastingly, there was a decline in the number of new connections in the fixed line sub-sector, apparently with many people opting for the mobile phone, which is convenient and manageable in terms of service usage. Since the introduction of the community pay phone services, commonly known as Simu ya Jamii, in 2003, more people, especially in urban slums and rural areas have got a chance to use the telephony services. Mobile phone providers extended their services to many rural areas in the country, which had for a long time been neglected in terms of telecommunication services. Some of the areas that benefited from the expansion of the mobile telephony, included the North Eastern province and other remote parts of the country. Growth prospects were expected to increase with the licensing of a third mobile operator. The poor performance in the fixed lines sub-sector was attributed to lack of competition to the stateowned Telkom, Kenya. Although some new fixed line service providers have been licensed, they were yet to roll out their operations to give the State monopoly competition in a market that is still in need of efficient telecommunication services. In the Internet sub-sector, there were major gains resulting from the licensing of 10 new Internet backbone Service providers by CCK in September 2004. This has created competition in the market, leading to improved Internet services and reduced cost. Previously, it was only Jambonet, a subsidiary company of Telkom, Kenya, that enjoyed monopoly over the Very Small Aperture Technology (VSAT) facility. Quite often, though, Jambonet faced criticism for inability to provide reliable and efficient connectivity. The Internet backbone had been known for frequent breakdowns and that affected operations of Internet Service Providers and most Internet users. Moreover, it levied higher charges on the service, hence making it quite expensive to use Internet facilities. During the year, the country witnessed the establishment of the first public Internet peering point for the Internet Service Providers ISPs. The country also rolled out its first national Internet backbone connecting six towns with the use of digital switches, fibre optic cable and satellite services. The net result of all these is to reduce the cost of Internet access and put the country on the path towards achieving universal ICT use. At the Postal Corporation, the installation of VSAT facilities in more than 500 facilities throughout the country to supplement its facilities in all district headquarters ranked as one its strong points. The project has expanded the services offered by the corporation, which has been losing out on the mail services as the digital communication net-works took hold in business and industry. Another major development in the postal sub-sector was the licensing of 16 new courier operators, increasing the number of licensees to 90. While the number of postal outlets declined, the number of private letterbox renters went up. Telecommunication service providers
Telkom Kenya was established as a public telecommunications operator in April 1999 following an Act of Parliament. Consequently, in July of 1999 the company was issued with licences by CCK to provide a range of telecommunication services. The company offers a wide range services and has its outlets spread across the country. Safaricom Limited is the premier mobile telephone operator in Kenya. It was formed in 1997 as a subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone acquired 40 per cent shares and management responsibility in the company. Safaricom’s aim is to remain the leading mobile network operator in Kenya. As the 2005 came to an end, there were clear plans by the government to offload some of its shares from Safaricom, with the understanding that the money generated would be used to expedite privatisation at the Telkom. Celtell, which took over Kencell, is the second mobile phone operator in Kenya. Until May 2004, the company was known as Kencell Communications Limited, which was incorporated in Kenya as the first private GSM network operator in November 1999 and licensed to operate a mobile phone network in January 2000. There are about 100 Internet service providers in the country and several cyber cafés that offer Internet services. A notable development in this sector is the continued reduction in costs of Internet access partly due to reduced telephone costs as well as lower subscription tariff for the backbone services, which until last 2004, was monopolised by Jambonet, a subsidiary company of Telkom Kenya. With about KSh10, one can do up 20 minutes on the Internet, something which was unheard of just about three years ago. Conclusion |
