The great expectations for 2007

The year 2006 closes today with a number of milestones achieved in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) front but also not without challenges standing in the way of development of the sector.

The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.

The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.

The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.

This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.

The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.

Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.

The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.

The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.

Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.

Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.

As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.

The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.

The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.

Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.

This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.

In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.

The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.

The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.

Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.

Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.

The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.

A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.

The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.

At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.

Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.

At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.

It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.