Blessed new month December!

Kindly find comments, with thanks!

Be blessed!

Regards/Wangari

Day 1 of 3: 2016 ICT Year in Review Feedback - Policy, Legal & Regulatory Issues

 
Listers, (apologies for cross-posting)
 
Thanks again for those who spared time to provide feedback - so that the rest of us can read and interrogate the same :-)
 
Over the next 3 days I shall share the feedback and basically hope to get further reactions from the floor.  I attach the feedback document but with summaries below:
 
1. Policy & Legal Feedback
 
a) 52% of the respondents felt that the Universal Service Fund(USF) had not met its objective. 40% felt that it had to a moderate extent while 8% felt it had a very large extent.
 
-       CSOs tapping into the fund; for advocacy, lobbying
-  Innovators - for groundbreaking research and solutions that others may ride on  as enterprises
 
a)      61% of the respondents felt that ICT Policies and initiative had not impacted the counties. 23% of the respondents felt that these had moderately impacted the counties, while 10% felt they had an impact to a very large extent.
- County Governments must take initiative to inbuilt in their services.
c) 41% of the respondents felt that the multi-stakeholder approach between ICT stakeholders and government was moderately achieved. 31% felt it was not achieved while  25% felt it was, to a very large extent.
We have seen public calls to ICT stakeholders by Government agencies
- The Tech community contribution can do much better
- CSOs are not at the forefront lobbying -  perhaps may not have the capacity
d) Policy/Legal Issues not yet addressed include: Cyber Crime /Cyber Security Bill and its position in Senate and National Assembly, Data Protection Bill, ICT Practitioners Bill, Privacy Issue Linkages between National & County Governments on ICT matters, Quality of Internet, Infrastructure Sharing
Regulatory Feedback
The feedback loop can be improved
2. Regulatory Feedback
a) 48% of the respondents felt that the question of affordable communications/internet pricing had not been well addressed. 30% felt that the question of affordable pricing has been moderately addressed while 20% felt it has been addressed to a very large extent.
- CSOs who are best placed to lobby for this seem not to consider ICT as a frontier to venture into. They are still focused on the poverty areas where donors pump money of food, health, education
- Donor support linked to the ICTs is new frontier that entities like ISOC Chapter may champion for
b) 68% of the respondents felt that the issue of dominance in the sector was affecting pricing of communication services to a very large extent. 16% felt it moderately affected pricing while 13% felt it was really not an issue.
- Monopoly, oligopoly with a lukewarm regulator hand to players is not good for the consumer. It is very good for the investor
- The fact that the ICT sector is predominantly foreign-owned should be a contributor – with repatriation of profits and foreign versus local interests
c) 48% of the respondents felt that the urban-rural digital divide had not been adequately addressed while 34% felt that it had been moderately addressed while only 7% felt it had been addressed to a very large extent.
Urban-urban divide requires to get into the conversation. This is also a discriminatory element.
- ISPs cables within urban centres terminate as you enter into a slum area.
- What this means is that the low income pay more, have to find their own local ways to access services
e.g Kenya Power in the slum electrification has shown that it can be done.
d) 65% of the respondents felt that the regulator had not addressed the issue of inclusivity with regard to persons with disabilities (PWD). 27% felt this had been moderately addressed while only 5% felt it has been addressed to a large extent.
What does legislation say
 – this becomes the benchmark and all players comply
-       CSOs take on their role to engage and lobby for
 
e) Areas needing Regulatory Interventions: Operator Dominance Issues, Internet Pricing & Affordability issues, White Spaces, Operationalization of Universal Service Fund & Access, Failed Number Portability, Data protection for Subscriber Data, Conflict between regulatory bodies, Last mile connectivity and Way-leaves, Net-Neutrality, Support for ICT-startups, Support for Digital evidence in courts, Inclusion & Support for Persons With 
Irrespective of whether you participated  in the questionnaire or not, you are invited to comment, support, oppose and/or seek clarifications on the views of stakeholders.
Tommorrow we shall post the feedback on Human Capital & Infrastructure.
 
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Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth".