Jevans Nyabiage
18 July 2008
Nairobi — Establishment of a new licence regime by the Communications Commission of Kenya has been delayed due to high volume of data that needs time to be analysed.
The new framework was to allow the provision of multiple services under a single licence. The migration to a unified licensing system was, however, not to affect existing businesses though they were required to make necessary adjustments.
A Kenya Gazette notice had stipulated July 1 as the date for the implementation of the new guidelines.
CCK acting director general, Ms Peris Nkonge, said the regulator has received enormous input from major telecommunication operators and the public and due to the quantity of the data, they were not able to beat the deadline. "We are analysing inputs from various sectors and consulting further with experts to make sure we get a more conclusive regime. This is a very important matter which needs a lot of deliberations and we do not have to rush at it," Ms Nkonge said. She was speaking this during the launch of a Sh1.6 million scholarship scheme for secondary students in selected schools in the eight provinces.
The proposed new licensing regime was to have three license types; network, service and content providers. Network providers - unlike the current system where they acquire licences based on network type - will be granted a unified licence that will include satellite, mobile and fixed-line services. In 2004 the commission announced its intention to implement a unified licensing framework as a mechanism of harnessing the emerging technological opportunities as well as address regulatory challenges.
This was necessitated by the realisation that technological convergence within the ICT sub-sector had rendered the long held technological oriented licensing approach untenable. Ms Nkonge said that absence of the commission director general contributed to the delay since the seat's holder is the one to give all the managerial directions for the commission to such important issues.
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