Kenya | Technology and Communications

[Nobleskills]

The recent entry of new players in mobile telephony industry in Kenya doubled the number of subscribers in Kenya. The number has risen to 16 million subscribers within a period of 1 year. The growth is due to reduction of call rates and cheap mobile handsets.

The NSE listed company, and East and Central Africa's most profitable company, has a subscriber base of over 12 million and still growing beside the entry of New players. Its competence is boosted transfer of money over the phone under brand "M-Pesa" services (remember this services is giving banks a nightmare!).

Zain group comes second with over 4 million subscribers and still growing with its lowest calling rates in the country across all the networks.

Telkom's Kenya's newest kid on the block Orange hit 1 million subscribers on its first month in the market.

Another player is Econet Wireless wich has hit over 500,00 thousand before its launch through its online booking of the number of your choice on www.yu.co.ke.

[nairoberry]

that is almost 50% penetration. thats some progress made hopefully with the TEAMs cable landing next year and with the fourth cellphone company launching in december i think it might end up being 70% or 80% penetration. for a country that was supposed to be in a civil war, kenya is definetely moving forward against some big odds.

[Nobleskills]

It is predicted that by the end of next year this will have increased to over 25 million subscribers.

[P.a.t.r.i.o.t]

Great news. I can only see good things coming to Kenya, the future looks very bright and promising. Our leaders just need to get their act together and Kenya will be the place to watch.

[Xusein]

Wow, that is more that I thought. Kudos, Kenya.

[Nobleskills]

As said by the Econet Chief during the launch of Econet Wireless Kenya, he is targeting the age bracket of 18-35 year-olds. This bracket are the majority, young and virbrant population. But the most untapped market are the rural folks. Most Cities and Towns residents owns phones. A city like Nairobi is almost reaching saturation point.

[Kisumu Ndogo]

Originally Posted by Nobleskills

As said by the Econet Chief during the launch of Econet Wireless Kenya, he is targeting the age bracket of 18-35 year-olds. This bracket are the majority, young and virbrant population. But the most untapped market are the rural folks. Most Cities and Towns residents owns phones. A city like Nairobi is almost reaching saturation point.

This is one are that Kenya can use to turn around its Economy into a 21st Century.

[keitai]

Originally Posted by Kisumu Ndogo

This is one are that Kenya can use to turn around its Economy into a 21st Century.

Mobile phones have been a big success story in kenya (and in africa in general). Competing providers, dropping prices, bringing service to rural areas. Investors are much more likely to put their money in new investment projects when they see that successful business can be done all parts of the country.

[Ruby1980]

Good Idea !

Want a SIM card? Show your identity

A mobile phone user inserts a SIM card into a phone. The President has directed mobile phone companies to register those who buy SIM cards in an effort to reduce phone-related crimes. Photo/WILLIAM OERI

A mobile phone user inserts a SIM card into a phone. The President has directed mobile phone companies to register those who buy SIM cards in an effort to reduce phone-related crimes. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
By BENJAMIN MUINDIPosted Tuesday, July 21 2009 at 22:30


Mobile phone users will soon have to register their personal details if they are to remain connected.

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Companies providing mobile phone services were on Tuesday given six months to register the details of their subscribers as the government moved to deter criminals from using their gadgets for illegal activities.

Those who will not have complied with the directive when the deadline expires will have their telephone lines disabled under the directive issued by President Kibaki on Monday night in a speech read for him by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka at a ceremony to commemorate the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) 10th anniversary and ICT Expo at the Carnivore Hotel in Nairobi.

Kenya has 17.6 million mobile phone users. Once they are registered, the information will be kept under CCK’s custody.

The new regulation comes in the face of an upsurge in sophisticated crimes and a series of abductions after which the kidnappers demand ransom through mobile phone calls and text messages.

But the era when subscribers would just walk into a shop and by SIM cards without registration could be over after the President directed the Ministry of Information and Communication to put in place the elaborate data bank that will ensure that every phone number can be traced to its user.

Until now, criminals have been taking advantage of the fact that the owners of the mobile phone handsets and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are not registered before enjoying the service.

Speaking to the Nation on Tuesday on how the directive will be carried out, Information and Communication permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said all SIM card holders will be required to furnish their particulars with their network providers before the end of the year.

Money transfer

“If users will not have complied with this deadline, their numbers will be shut out the network,” the PS said.

Operators in the mobile phones industry have argued that the lack of a necessary law was to blame for the anomaly.

However, Dr Ndemo hinted at amending the Kenya Communications Act to make the process legal.

Users of Safaricom’s M-Pesa and Zain’s Zap money transfer services have their SIM card details registered already. By May this year, M-Pesa had about six million users while Zap had about 600,000.

Telkom-Kenya’s fixed land line captures all the details of the users as well. If a subscriber dials 999, the company can identify the caller and where he or she is calling from.

When contacted to comment on the new directive, Zain CEO Rene Meza said the move would not reduce crime.

“Prepaid subscribers registration is a good initiative to identify mobile users. However, it does not prevent or reduce crimes as the criminals normally manage to get hold of stolen mobile phones or fake or stolen identity cards to get their own mobile connections,” he said.

This, he said, was based on his experience in Pakistan and Paraguay where the law required that prepaid subscribers be registered.

His sentiments were echoed by Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph.

“The issue of subscriber registration has been over-simplified by the political class and, in itself, it is not a panacea for addressing rising incidents of crime,” he said.

He drew the analogy from the registration of motor vehicles, which are often used in crimes, saying it was always the case that criminals steal vehicles and use them to commit crimes.

“In this same vein, subscriber registration will only assist the government to know who the honest citizens are and will have little or no impact in identifying criminal elements,” he said.

According to him, the government will have to find ingenious investigative methods to reduce phone-related crimes.

But the police spokesperson Eric Kiraithe said the move would enable his detectives manage crime.

“It is the way mobile telephone concept was introduced in the country that complicated the matter,” Mr Kiraithe said in an earlier interview with the Nation.
“The implementation did not factor the security question from its start.”

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However, Mr Joseph told the government that it was important to understand that the support provided by telecommunications companies should not be treated as a substitute for proper investigations by the police.

“With the rising crime trends, it will be necessary for the government to invest in modern investigative techniques,” he said.

He, however, agreed that registration of SIM cards was an essential but not a legal requirement.

Such a law stipulates what information should be documented, how it is verified, how it will be managed and those entitled to access it to ensure confidentiality.

[desert burner]

Stephen Tricarico (right) the technical engineer network testing services from TYCO Telecommunications, USA shows Seacom Fibre Optic technical staff engineer Ismail Abdulshakur where to click to officially commission the Seacom fibre optic under sea cable at the Swahili Cultural Centre where they have put up the landing station.




Internet broadband has become a reality in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda for the first after one of the four awaited undersea cables was finally switched on on Thursday.

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This will be after the fibre optic operator Seacom goes live in five countries.

The privately-funded consortium will be switching on its $760m (Sh59 billion at current exchange rates) sub-sea cable in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa with Rwanda set to be linked up in two weeks’ time.

This effectively means that Kenya is now part of the information superhighway and would be able to compete on an even level platform with more established economies.

Three unnamed internet players were the first to access the cable following the switch.

“This is an incredibly special day for Kenya and Africa and I am very happy to be part of it,” said Seacom vice-president, Jean-Pierre de Leu said a few hours ago at the launch at the Swahili Cultural centre where the Mombasa landing station is based.

“No project can compete with this for the importance it holds for Kenya and for Africa,” said Haskell Ward, Seacom’s senior vice-president in charge of government relations.

The benefits are expected to be immense with the sub-sea cable expected to provide super-fast internet connections and vastly expanded bandwidth capacity.

The forthcoming Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum to be led by United States Secretary of State is a prime example of what the cable can do. The talks are set to be streamed live to the five countries and will also feature what has until now been the stuff of movies.

Talks are on with AAR to have a clinic at the venue that will be virtually manned by staff located at a different venue, a variant of telemedicine.

But the private consortium warned that Kenyans would have to wait longer for the expected massive drop in prices as industry players sought to recoup their initial outlay.

“What we are providing is a highway and it will be up to the telcos and internet service providers to decide the final cost,” said Mr Ward.
The launch will be marked by a live telecast between Tanzania president Jakaya Kikwete and Cisco president John Chambers to be preceded by an address by Seacom president Brian Herlihy.




High resolution and internet television and better voice, data and video services will be among the more visible benefits.

Business Process Outsourcing firms are expected to be among the big winners as they would be able to compete on a level platform with their counterparts in Asian economies such as the Philippines and India.

Kenya has been the only region in the world not connected to an undersea fibre optic cable and has had to rely on the more expensive satellite which charges as high as $7,000 dollars per megabyte. Seacom has announced that it will offer wholesale prices.
Seacom’s cable will link South Africa, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique to India and Europe. The entire system will be operated and controlled through Seacom’s network operations centre based in Pune, India.

Three other marine cables are also competing to serve the local market. They are the government-backed TEAMs (The East African Marine System), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and Lion.

TEAMS landed at Mombasa early last month and is currently undergoing testing while the other two are expected to be operational by mid-2010.

Seacom said it would offer uniform pricing for its bandwidth across the region.

Besides Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Mozambique, Seacom will also connect Madagascar, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Seacom is a privately funded venture with Kenya’s Industrial Promotion Services having a 26.25 per cent stake, Venfin Limited (25 per cent), South Africa’s Shanduka Group (12.5 per cent) and Convergence Partners controlling 12.5 per cent of the cable.

The remaining 23.75 per cent is held by New York-based international development group Herakles Capital.

[desert burner]

thank god, finally we can access cheap internet

[desert burner]

thank god, finally we can access cheap internet and fast

[The E.N.D]

Cheap internet?haha.

[Kenguy]

Originally Posted by The E.N.D

Cheap internet?haha.

Looks like it will be a while before prices come down. The companies that invested in these fibre optic projects have to recover the money spent on the project and make profits first and even then, they might not want to reduce prices unless there is very stiff competition in the market. Im still grateful for the faster connection though.

[KQV208]

From next year I will be leaving in Kenya. This is certainly welcome.

[blueskyggs]

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed.

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[ernestombayo7]

Originally Posted by blueskyggs

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed.

demande simulation pret personnel en ligne - Pret personnel en ligne et de comparer les meilleurs taux afin de... La demande de prêt personnelen lignedemande simulation pret personnel en ligne

Your welcome.

[desert burner]

this thread is dedicated the news and updates of the BPO sector.

[desert burner]

The evolution of the call centre

Direct Channel Simba Tech’s contact centre in Westlands. Photo / Correspondent
By KABURU MUGAMBIPosted Monday, September 7 2009 at 14:37

Initially they were referred to as call centres, focusing on incoming and outgoing voice calls on behalf of their clients. But call centres have evolved to contact centres which are able to manage customers with both voice calls and data applications and in some cases selling.

According to Direct Channel Simba Tech Kenya, a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider, a contact centre deals with a combination of inbound or outbound calls.

“Contact centres continue to grow because today’s customers demand user-friendly self-service systems and the means to reach well informed and capable customer service,” says Direct Channel Simba Tech head of operations Rishi Jatania.

The firm’s executive director, Irene Taruru, said that businesses need to earn customer loyalty for continued business, hence the need to provide real time information and demonstrate their business values and convenience to its customers.

With intensive human capital and communications infrastructure as its requirements, she said contact centre business in Kenya has a natural advantage at this point in time.

“The advantages in brief are twofold - a talent pool which is well educated and well spoken and now the fibre optic connectivity,” she said.

Ms Taruru told Smart Company that companies should feel comfortable with outsourcing customer interaction to a third party.

Smart businesses nowadays focus on their core competence and to outsource support activities to companies who specialise in that, she said citing provision of security services. Today no company has askaris on their payroll, she added.

“Instead this activity has been contracted to security companies, who understand the subject better,” Ms Taruru said.

“Outsourcing activities is an idea now quite prevalent throughout the world.”

With the increasing information security concerns, Ms Taruru said for client confidentiality to be effective it must be a way of life of the business.

“That is why this important aspect is emphasised at all levels of all our processes,” she said.

The company currently runs a 36-seat contact centre in Nairobi serving two South Africa-based companies. A second contact centre in Nairobi with 260 seats capacity would be ready for occupancy by the end of the year, Mr Jatania said.

Locally, the company trains contact centre agents for companies that decide to launch and run their own contact centres.

“We have been also approached by utility companies to train their personnel, so that these agents are geared towards serving their customers be it, electricity, water, telecoms or even TV channels,” Ms Taruru said.

Direct Channel Simba Tech runs certified training courses for agents who work for other organisations or people who want to pursue career in this field. The training is comprehensive and addresses all levels of operations from an agent to the chief controller.

She said that the arrival of the fibre optic has somehow levelled the playing field making the local communications infrastructure nearly at par with India and China.

“With both economics and quality set to improve, it will now allow us to market services abroad more efficiently and cost effectively,” Ms Taruru said.

“A natural corollary of all this will be ultimately better employment opportunities for Kenyans in line with the 2030 initiative.”

Direct Channel Simba Tech is a partnership between Direct Channel of South Africa and Simba Tech Kenya. Direct Channel is the largest and one of the most successful privately owned BPO call centres in Sub- Saharan Africa, with over 3000 seats in South Africa.

It handles telecommunication companies, banks, insurance companies and large superstores for their inbound and outbound requirement.

[desert burner]

Published on 08/09/2009


By Macharia Kamau
The business process outsourcing (BPO) sector might finally get its footing right after years of false starts.
Kenya BPO and Contact Centre Society is optimistic after Kenya’s connection to international fibre optic networks, the industry is on the verge of a major take-off and poised to jostle for a substantial share of the $220 billion outsourcing industry.
Call centres are gearing for more business from overseas firms after the country’s connection to global fibre optic networks. Photo: File
Ms Gilda Odera, chairperson of the BPO society, said investors have shown interest in setting up call centres in the country, while foreign firms are now keen on outsourcing functions to Kenya.
"Investors are now showing interest in setting up large contact centres and we have also seen an increase in the number of companies enquiring about outsourcing to the country."
An American company is looking at the possibility of setting up a 1,000-seat capacity call centre in the country, which will be the largest in the country.
Foreign investors
The plans are, however, at primary stages but Odera is upbeat about the future of the sector, saying foreign investors had been deterred from investing because of the high Internet connectivity costs and slow speeds.
"Poor Internet connection had turned away investors, stalling the industry’s growth. The situation has been addressed after the country was connected to the undersea fibre optic cable," she said.
Another local BPO, Quick Data, plans to set up an 800 seat contact centre.
The move by the two companies to invest in Kenya will be a departure from the current situation, where there are centres with as little as 50 seats.
This means large organisations were willing to outsource their functions would only need one centre. There are only a few other centres that have large capacity, among them Kencall, which has about 600 seats.
This is a contrast to countries like India and Philippines where large organisations outsource some of their functions to single centre.
The sector, among those earmarked to drive the economy to attaining the Vision 2030, has had it rough since inception about five years ago, with a number of them closing shop or suspending operations owing to lack of business.
"The going has not been easy for the sector some because of their inadequacies as well as infrastructural challenges," said Mr Paul Kukubo, chief executive Kenya ICT Board.
He said termed the rough patch as a learning phase and expects the industry to start picking pace now.
Specialised training
And in anticipation of increased business, the industry plans to start specialised training for BPO personnel.
Last week, the BPO Certification Institute (BCI) – an international standards body —launched a professional certification programme targeted at people working as call centre agents and students eyeing the industry.
The company, headquartered in India, will partner with the African BPO Academy (ABA) to offer certification in the region.
The two organisations will partner with local learning institutions and to train and certify at least 5,000 people in the next one year.