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.
In an Interview with Bizbytes, Kukubo said the subsidy would ensure BPO sector investors make a profit and remain in business before the TEAMS cable lands in the country.
"This is aimed at enabling Kenya to compete favourably with regional BPO players who are already utilising the cheaper and more efficient marine optic cables," Kukubo said.
The money is part of the $114.5 million given to the Ministry of Information and Communications to finance the ICT sector through the World Bank’s Kenya Transparency and Communication Infrastructure Programme.
Players to benefit from the programme, said Kukubo, must have been in operation for at least three months.
The move, to be in place by end of next month, would encourage more BPO players to enter the market and competitively battle it out with regional colleagues whose broadband costs are far much below those of Kenya.
The Board is also sponsoring the Third African Outsourcing and Contact Centre Conference set for November 27-28 in Safari Park Hotel Nairobi to the tune of Sh1.5 million.
The conference aimed to boost profile of the local BPO sector is in collaboration with AITECH-Africa, the United Kingdom based information technology marketing body, and the Kenya BPO and Contact Centre Society.
According to Kukubo the sector may end up being the top employer in the next five years by offering 30,000 direct jobs and hundreds of thousands of indirect opportunities.
Deputy KICT CEO, Mr Victor Kyalo, called upon stakeholders to consolidate a master plan ahead of the Sh6.2 billion ($82 million) worth TEAMS cable expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
The entry of the cable is expected to cut bandwidth costs, currently standing between $6,500 (Sh435,500) and $7,500 (Sh502, 500) per megabyte to around $400 (Sh26,800) per megabyte.
This will be complemented by the current government’s effort of rolling out a Sh4 billion fibre optic cable across the country to provide terrestrial connectivity that will hook up consumers to the global network.
Meanwhile, Kyalo said, the board would also spend $6 million (Sh400 million) to subsidise bandwidth for colleges and universities countrywide.
He said 42 institutions are earmarked for the assistance and would be distributed on the basis of student population, existing ICT infrastructure and the amount of bandwidth currently being consumed.
The programme to kick off early next year is being coordinated the Kenya Education Network (www.kenet.or.ke), established in 2001 to spur ICT in higher institutions of learning.
He also said the ICT board is working closely with the E-government to digitize data in key ministries to ensure more citizens access pertinent services online.
Departments targeted include the Judiciary, Lands, Kenya Gazette, Company Registry, Driving Licence department, and Population Registry.
To ensure more Kenyans access the digitized services easily, the government is also facilitating installation of Digital Villages countrywide.
This will save citizens the agony of traveling to urban centres to access the online government services and encourage growth of the sector.
To this end, the ICT board has already set aside $10 million (Sh667 million) to support digital villages in terms of training ($2 million), bandwidth support ($2 million), technical support ($2 million) and Digital Villages Revolving Fund ($4 million).
The revolving fund will specifically ensure sustainability of the activities since entrepreneurs will be allowed to borrow for expansion and repay within three years.
The KICT Deputy CEO, Mr Victor Kyalo said already 1500 Digital Villages have been short listed to start the training early next year. The trained will be certified.
It is after the training that the board will start offering the "seed" bandwidth and related technical support.
To ensure wider reach, the board is targeting government information officers on ICT support so that they may extend the same to digital villages in their territories for free.
Speaking last week during an open session for stakeholders, Kenya BPO Society Chairperson, Mrs Gilda Odera said the society in conjunction with KICT was already robustly selling Kenya globally as a potential outsourcing destination.
Their efforts have already seen Kenyan ICT delegates attend two international fetes in Birmingham, UK and New York where they met potential international investors and Kenyans in Diaspora who are keen to boost the local industry.
Odera called on all BPO operators to pay the Sh35,000 membership fee to help the society run smoothly.
So far, she said, only 25 corporates have registered alongside a few individual players, leaving the society with inadequate funds to run its mandate.
She talked of plans to open an office and institute a secretariat from where interested parties would access vital sector information to complement the society website (www.kenyabposector.or.ke).
"Once we open office, we intend to employ a full time manager to coordinate the BPO Society secretariat and offer pertinent sector information to players," she said.
Currently, she said, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a top Canadian corporation is undertaking a survey on the state of the BPO sector in the country to help stakeholders make informed long term plans.
BPO players in attendance also called for possible waiver or reduction of entry fees, which currently stand at Sh45,000.
This includes the mandatory Sh10,000 licence fee charged by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Sh35,000 entry membership fee at KBPO Society.
They argued that the fees could be prohibitive since the sector is struggling to establish roots in the region.
Kukubo promised to follow up the players’ concerns with CCK and other stakeholders to reach a consensus.
He however was quick to caution the would-be investors against over relying on government subsidies, calling for adequate planning and commitment if they have to succeed on the international platform.
He said the Board would be pushing for the passage of the data protection and ICT Bills once the next parliament reconvenes to seal possible legal loopholes in the outsourcing business.
Speaking at a separate function, Information and Communications minister Mr Mutahi Kagwe recently said three companies had been awarded tenders to lay the cables to cover the whole country.
The terrestrial cable christened Fibre Optic National Network (FONN) is set to cover a total of 4,300 kilometers, to be ready by December next year. The project is fully funded by the Government.
A cable of 1,800 kilometers running through North Eastern and the Coastal regions will be constructed by French company, Sagem.
The other running through Central Kenya covering a length of 1,100 kilometers will be laid by Chinese company Huawei while the third one estimated to cover 1,400 kilometers will be constructed by ZTN, also a Chinese firm. Upon completion, the cables will be linked to The TEAMS set to connect Kenya to the rest of the World through Fujaira in the Middle East.
Autor(en)/Author(s): James Ratemo
Quelle/Source: The Standard, 25.11.2007
