21 April 2008
editorial
Nairobi — IT IS TURNING INTO AN EXCITING YEAR FOR KEnya's mobile telephony sector. The country's largest service provider, Safaricom, will be listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and two other companies - Econet Wireless and Telkom Kenya - are expected to launch their networks.
The phenomenal growth of the sector, which has seen subscriber numbers rise from a paltry 15,000 in 1999 to 14 million today, poses regulatory challenges to the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK).
To be fair, the CCK has performed above expectation so far, given that utility regulation is a relatively new concept in the region. In the past two years, for example, the authority has midwifed a national ICT policy and instituted reforms that have lowered local and international telephony costs by more than 80 per cent.
In addition, the CCK has developed the framework for awarding unified licences, liberalised the ICT sector and achieved commendable milestones in such areas as spectrum monitoring and frequency allocation. These, doubtless, are achievements that will contribute to Kenya's stated goal of becoming the regional ICT hub and a premier destination for business outsourcing.
Going forward, the commission must put the accent on service delivery and also iron out the outstanding policy issues that continue to constrain the sector. It must, for example, address the factors that perpetuate low penetration and accessibility of ICT services, including mobile telephony in the rural areas.
It must also continue to work to establish a transparent and predictable regulatory regime that allows players to exploit business opportunities and take advantage of technological advances.
On service delivery, it is imperative that the CCK enforces more rigorously regulations to protect the rights of the consumer to reliable service. The existing situation is far from ideal. Opaque tariff regimes, for example, mean that many subscribers cannot make rational decisions on which network to be on.
The failure of existing networks to allow number portability, as well as monopolistic pricing, also work to undercut competitors and limit consumer choice.
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