Published on
March 29, 2009 in
internet projects.
Tags: access kenya, cck, cfc stanbic, eassy, fees, fibre, funding, kcb, Kenya, license, nic bank, roll-out, safaricom, seacom, teams, undersea, wimax.
The last couple of weeks have seen a whole raft of new developments in Kenya’s Internet and Telecoms sectors:
- The first major development is that the SEACOM high speed undersea cable has landed in Mombasa and work is underway to ensure that operations commence in June 2009 as scheduled. This will afford Kenyan’s for the first time true broadband internet access via their preferred internet service providers.
- The second was that Telkom Kenya had managed to secure in the region of Kes. 8 Billion from the local banking sector to fund the expansion of its services and network including its Orange Kenya offerings.
- The third major announcement was that the Access Kenya Group had secured funding of Kes. 400 Million from NIC Bank to expand its network infrastructure and offerings. This gives the Access Kenya Group a war chest of Kes. 1 Billion in addition to the Kes. 600 Million it already had in reserves.
- The fourth major announcement was that Safaricom was dissolving Onecom as its small to large enterprise internet services division and integrating the business as part of the broader Safaricom brand due to cost-cutting measures.
- The fifth announcement is that Google Kenya has launched an SMS search service that enables users with standard mobile phones to make SMS keyword searches via a short code service. This service clearly takes cognizance of the fact that most Kenyans do NOT have web-enabled mobile phones and as such SMS is an alternative channel to access Google’s search services.
- The last major (and shocking) announcement came from the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) which announced that WIMAX licenses would now cost around Kes. 270 Million to acquire and an annual fee of Kes. 14 Million to maintain.
All these developments mean that the next few years should become a pretty interesting for Kenya’s Internet services sector. The funding and roll-out of high quality internet infrastructure, coupled with the fast growing internet market, and the expected lower costs of access through the high speed SEACOM, TEAMS and EASSy undersea cables is going to change ALOT for businesses and individuals in Kenya. However, what remains to be seen is if the appetite for internet services (especially with such limited local content and online services) will match up with copious amounts of ubiquitous bandwidth at relatively low cost – will it ultimately make business sense? I certainly hope so!
Published on
March 29, 2009 in
Formula1.
Tags: albert park, australian, brawn gp, grand prix, jenson button, melbourne, richard branson, ross brawn, rubens barichello, virgin group, win.
Brawn GP, the new kid on the Formula One block is a revelation of stunning proportions:
- This is the same team that lost its main backer at the end of 2008 when Honda Motor Racing pulled out of Formula One citing the global economic slow-down.
- This is the same team that three weeks ago was in serious doubt of making the first race of the season, the 2009 edition of the Australian Grand Prix, which happened today.
- This is the same team that “down-sized” by reducing its workforce by 250 and had to boostrap massively if it had any chance of making it to the 2009 season.
- This is also the same team that had no engine supplier when Honda Motor Corporation pulled out and had to go shopping for engines from Mercedes Motor Corporation and then retro-fit them to their 2009 race cars.
- This is the same team that has conspicuously “sponsor-free” livery on their drivers and cars due to fact that they had no major sponsors until this past Friday, when Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group signed up with them.
- This is the same team that locked out the front row in the qualifiers yesterday when Jenson Button secured pole position and his team mate Rubens Barrichello took the second spot.
- This is also the same team that today in an accident prone and safety car riddled Austrailian Grand Prix secured the best possible result possible of having a 1-2 finish with Jenson Button winning and Rubens Barrichello taking the second position.
Brawn GP is nothing less than spectacular to have pulled off such results under truly daunting circumstances. Congratulations to the entire Brawn GP team!
In what was probably our most overdue web site project, we finally launched Dotsavvy 3.0 – the working name for our new web site. Dotsavvy 3.0 is the third web site we have implemented in the 6 odd years that we have been in business and probably our most ambitious to-date.
Dotsavvy 3.0, in terms of design and functionality, is more mature than Dotsavvy 2.0 which was built entirely in flash. Dotsavvy 3.0 has a content management as well linkages to our presence on social media channels such as twitter, google maps, facebook and linkedin.
The content in Dotsavvy 3.0 was basically migrated from Dotsavvy 2.0 but we will be working hard to upgrade the content and expand it substantively in the coming weeks and months. We have also used an upgraded corporate identity which is most notable in our “aqua” version of the Dotsavvy logo to give the site a more “web 2.0″ look.
The just retired Dotsavvy 2.0 was our hallmark web site for a good number of years which “worked” and we never really felt compelled to “fix” it – everyone kept saying how much they loved it and it won us loads of business for sure. However, Dotsavvy 3.0 opens up lots of new possibilities and will enable us to really expand our internet visibility and improve our market positioning. Kudos go to the team members at Dotsavvy (who know who they are of course) for delivering Dotsavvy 3.0! Go here to view the site (feedback is most welcome!)
I just found out that Brawn GP’s 2009 Formula One contender shocked the paddock at testing in Barcelona this week. The car which is an evolved version of last year’s lackluster Honda F1 car pulled the fastest lap times with Rubens Barrichelo at the wheel! This amazing turnaround owes to fantastic leadership at the helm in the form of former Ferrari Formula One manager Ross Brawn.
Ross Brawn’s experience at Ferrari was expected to come in to full effect at the defunct Honda Formula One racing but instead its happening in his brand new team. I am sure it helps that Brawn GP cars are running engines from McLaren Mercedecs who won the 2008 championship with Lewis Hamilton. Reports already suggest that Brawn GP could take on Renault and Sauber BMW as the third power on the grid. This, of course, remains to be seen but its fun to see the upstarts showing such promise and we’re looking forward to the first race of the season in Melbourne Austrailia to see just how well they can perform!
I really like the name Z-control, the latest pre-paid tariff offer from Zain, Kenya’s second largest mobile network. Z-control is a post-paid tariff package where standard monthly fees are credited to a subscribers account. One can acquire Z-control in specific packages of Kes. 1,000.00 through to Kes. 5,000.00 per month.
In all of these z-control packages, one gets a free phone on sign-up that is commensurate with the package secured – the more you pay per month, the better the free phone you get (this is subject to a 3 month refundable deposit payment). Z-control has the following scaled per minute rates:
- Z-control 1,000/- for Kes. 3.00 per minute for Zain to Zain calls.
- Z-control 2,000/- for Kes. 2.00 per minute for Zain to Zain calls.
- Z-control 3,000/-, 4,000/-, and 5,000/- for Kes. 1.00 for Zain to Zain calls
In all of the Z-control packages, calls from Zain to other networks in Kenya are Kes. 12.00 per minute whilst SMS is Kes. 2.00 for Zain to Zain and Kes. 3.00 for Zain to other networks.
Published on
March 11, 2009 in
random.
phew! Phaw! And all the expletives! What a game! Down to the wire! Arsenal barely made it after extra time and two rounds of penalties with as roma in the champions league! What a game, again! Kudos to the gunners!
Last week, Robert Koech and I we’re interviewed by Emmanuel Were of the Business Daily regarding the challenges facing Kenyan ICT firms in the area of pricing their solutions. We shared our experiences at Dotsavvy within the marketplace. Read the published interview here.
This was an exhilerating weekend for Kenya’s team at the 2009 Dubai World Cup Sevens Tournament. Kenya made a good start on Friday when they beat Tunisia 27-9 with three tries from the “flyer” Collins Injera. On Saturday, they then thumped Hong Kong to massive final score of 47-7 before losing to England 26-7. Kenya then made it to the quarter finals where they beat the formidable Fiji team 12-0 before losing in the semi-finals to eventual runner-up’s Argentina 12-0 who lost to the overall winners Wales. All in all, it was an excellent showing at the RWC Sevens for Kenya who are firmly making their mark with world-class results! Congratulations!
Earlier this week, YU which is Kenya’s fourth mobile network launched its Umenoki tariff offer. Umenoki is a Kenyan “sheng” (slang) word that by literal translation means “are you crazy?!”. To be honest, the Umenoki offer does seem crazy since YU subscribers can will be charged only Kes. 50 cents per minute for YU to YU calls all day and night after making a call of at least 2 minutes long beforehand. This is by far the lowest tariff offer in the marketplace currently and is a clear demonstration that YU plans to grow its modest subsrciber base in both Mombasa and Nairobi where the network is currently operational.
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