Nairobi — The terms regulation and control sound retrogressive when used in the context of information and communication technology.

Increasingly, however, the terms are being used in reference to the Internet sector in Kenya, precisely because the industry players seem to defy market dictates.

Information and Communications assistant minister George Khaniri alluded to this fact this week during a meeting with ICT industry players.

Several months ago, the fibre optic technology landed on Kenyan soil with great fanfare. With the commissioning of the undersea cable, the broadband width expanded, and Internet costs were expected to go down dramatically. This has yet to happen.

For this reason, an exasperated government is toying with the idea of regulating Internet costs, a development that clearly should not occur. But a number of facts need to be examined.

One, assessment carried out and published in this year's International Telecommunications Union's parity index demonstrate that Kenya still lags far behind other countries in access to the Internet. Out of 154 countries ranked this year, Kenya was placed at position 116, which is where it has been since 2002.

Only eight out of every 100 Kenyans have access to the Internet, compared to 10.1 out of every 100 Zimbabweans, yet the latter is a failed economy.

Various factors explain Kenya's slow Internet access, such as lack of electricity and inaccessibility to computers. But cost is the most prohibitive barrier.

When, for example, the cumulative mobile telephony subscription rose from about 200,000 in 2000 to 17.4 million in 2009 largely due to reduced call and handset costs, the total number of Internet subscribers moved from a similar number to just two million within the same period.

The point is that despite the favourable conditions, Internet connectivity and access remain low. It is upon the service providers to read the market signs and reduce costs to preclude state control.