Focus on Internet Users

[Kenya Broadcasting Corporation]
CCK to keep track of internet users

Written By:Stanley Wabomba , Posted: Wed, Mar 28, 2007

Internet service providers are required to submit duly completed information return forms to the Communications Commission of Kenya- CCK after every three months.

CCK director general John Waweru says it is mandatory for the providers to submit the forms detailing how many new Internet users have joined and those who have left their networks.

The information is essential to maintain an up-to-date ICT database in the country.

Speaking at an Internet market study workshop in Nairobi, Waweru said lack of up-to-date information has created a scenario where Western experts estimate the facts. They often end up with gross under-estimation and mis-representation of facts.

The Internet market study established that Internet service providers in the country exploit consumers by inflating the cost by more than double what they are supposed to charge.

Although there are 51 licensed Internet providers, Internet service is only available in 20 out of the over 70 districts.

Nairobi and the Coast have 90 percent of the country's Internet users, which prompted CCK to urge providers to expand coverage to rural areas and narrow the information technology gap.

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[East African Standard]
CCK urges more Internet access
By James Ratemo and Edith Fortunate
Published 29 March, 2007

The Government has promised to expand Internet infrastructure.

Communications Commission of Kenya Director General, Mr John Waweru, says low uptake of the Internet poses the risk of Kenya lagging behind in reaping the benefits from the fast evolving digital economy.

Waweru was speaking in Nairobi when he received a CCK-commissioned study that found there are more than 2.7 million Internet users in the country. This figure is in contrast to an earlier International Telecommunications Union’s estimate of only 1.5 million.

Nairobi Province has the highest concentration, taking over 80 per cent of the Internet users followed by Coast at a paltry 9.4 per cent.

A local ICT and management consultancy firm in Nairobi, Netcom Information Systems, Conducted the study — Internet Market Study — from last October.

There are more than 50 Internet service providers (ISPs), 20 public data network operators, six Internet back-bone and gateway operators and over 20 local loop operators.

Only about 20 per cent of the users are spread in the small towns, the study says.

Releasing the report, Netcom Director, Prof Timothy Mwololo, said the cost of bandwidth and leased-line tariffs had remained high despite liberalisation of the sub-sector.

The study recommends licensing of more ISPs to provide Internet access and switching services.

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[Business Daily Africa]

Middlemen hike internet costs, study shows
By Okuttah Mark Published 29 March, 2007

A study on the penetration of Internet services in Kenya has recommended that the communications authority slash the number of intermediate operators in online services.

The study commissioned by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) last year found Internet access has remained elusive to most Kenyans, primarily because of high charges

Timothy Waema, the lead consultant with Netcom Information Systems Limited, which conducted the study for CCK, said multiple layers of middlemen increase the price of the bandwidth, which is eventually felt at the end user level. “The cost of two megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth at the international level goes for $2,000, but when it reaches the Internet service provider level (in Kenya) and the cost is $5,700 this is later passed to consumers” he said.

According to the study, the hierarchy of Internet provision services starts with global Internet providers, then on to international backbone and gateway operators (IBGOs) then to the country ISPs, and lastly to consumers.

Prices will increase down the chain, but the study found the final charges can be minimised by cutting out the IBGOs. The extra players could also be hurting the quality of the data transmission as well.

The study also showed that Internet users have grown in Kenya over the past give years to reach 2.7 million.