Published on
December 31, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: 2009, KCPE, Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, Kenya National Examinations Council, KNEC, Mobile, Problem, results, Short Code, Web Site.
This Tuesday the 29th December 2009, the eagerly awaited 2009 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Results we’re released to the Public. During the event, as has been the case for the better part of five years, the Public was also given the web site address for the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), as well as instructions on how to retrieve the results via SMS on their mobile phones. As could be expected, in a country where there are now over 4 million internet users and 18 million mobile subscribers, everyone tried to get the results through both channels almost immediately. What happened next goes to show just how much information and technology have become mainstream in Kenya.
In the first instance, the short code provided to retrieve KCPE results via SMS on mobile phones did not work – at least not initially. This was a premium short code which meant that using it attracted a charge of Kes. 20.00 per SMS message. Many anxious users tried to get KCPE results in this manner and lost money in the process until such time the problem was resolved. On the KNEC web site, the online system for checking the KCPE results was overloaded by the sheer volume of traffic created by too many concurrent users. As a result, it “broke” and was unable to serve its intended purpose.
The KCPE internet and mobile results being bungled go to show the extent to which Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been adopted nationwide in Kenya. The bar has been raised – everyone expects to have internet and/or mobile access to current and important information, whatever it may be. KNEC had probably been used to having a limited amount of utilization of it mobile and internet channels in the past but clearly this has now become the preferred way for many to get their examination results – whether its for the KCPE or otherwise. The lesson learned therefore is do not underestimate the market when it comes to ICTs and their adoption in Kenya – the market could be far bigger and more demanding than expected.
Published on
December 29, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: country code, domains, KeNIC, Kenya, Kenya Network Information Centre, launch, new, registry, second level, System.
The Kenya Network Information Centre (KeNIC) is a non-profit organization responsible for the management of Kenya’s .KE Country Code Top Level Country Domains (ccTLDs) as well as .KE Second Level Domains (SLDs). In the news yesterday, KeNIC launched three new SLDs in a move to increase uptake of .KE domain names. The new SLDs are as follows:
- .me.ke – for personal web sites/blogs
- .mobi.ke – for mobile web sites
- .info.co.ke – for information web sites
To note on the new SLDs is that .me.ke domain names will cost only Kes. 500.00 per annum. As well as launching the new SLDs which will supplement the existing SLDs (i.e. co.ke, .or.ke, .go.ke, .ac.ke, ne.ke and .sc.ke) KeNIC has also announced the launch of a new automated registry system for the registration and management of .KE domain names in Kenya. The new registry system will be more flexible, scalable and extensible for KeNIC registrars.
This is an interview I had last week with AlreadyInspired.com, a blog that covers stories about people who blog worldwide. You can read the interview here>
The Business Daily today did a report on how the ever growing mobile market in Kenya is now affecting how corporate web sites are being built by web developers and digital agencies. Basically, more and more Kenyan organizations want to ensure that their web sites can be easily accessed on the mobile web which is growing at a massive rate. I was interviewed for the report on behalf of Dotsavvy. You can read the full report here>
Published on
December 16, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: Internet, Kenya, launch, Mobile, money, Obopay, Online, Payments, YU, yuCash.
In the news today, YU, Kenya’s fourth mobile network has (finally) launched its mobile money service, yuCash. The service is being powered by Obopay which is a well-established and global mobile money system. YU intends the service to be operational not just in Kenya but throughout Africa wherever it intends to establish operations.
In rolling out yuCash, YU is has partnered with Equity Bank to deliver services throughout its extensive branch network in Kenya, and presumably in Uganda where it also has a significant footprint. In Kenya alone, Equity Bank has over 4 million account holders making it the largest bank in this respect. It also means that YU could get many Equity Bank customers to sign-up for yuCash by default which could be a key factor for services uptake.
yuCash is now effectively Kenya’s third mobile money service after the wildly successful M-Pesa service from Safaricom and Zain’s Zap service. However, by using Obopay for yuCash’s back-end, YU has upped the ante since Obopay is NOT just a mobile money service. Using Obopay, its also possible to make Internet payments for goods and services with registered merchants and service providers who are part of the Obopay ecosystem. As a result, yuCash could (potentially) become a default e-commerce platform for Kenya and the broader African region.
However, what remains to be seen is how much traction yuCash will gain considering its coming to the mobile money game quite late with Safaricom’s M-Pesa having a dominant lead in the marketplace. Having been the first to launch and also having the largest number of users to-date. M-Pesa is very well entrenched in the psyche of users in Kenya as the de facto mobile money service. But, M-Pesa is yet to evolve into a more sophisticated and extensible mobile money system like Obopay which could become its Achilles heel.
Published on
December 13, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: 2009, cellulant, Digital Music, dotsavvy, Embracing Digital Marketing, Interactive Media Services, Internet, kenya music week, Mobile, Moses Kemibaro, Payments, PDF, Pesapal, PPT, Presentation, safaricom live!, Vuma, web.
Earlier today I was at the Kenya Music Week (KMW) 2009 event to make a presentation titled “Embracing Digital Marketing”. This is the third year in row that I have made a presentation at the KMW and its amazing to see how much changes every year in terms of the Internet and Digital Media in general. This time last year, there was no (real) broadband in Kenya and the Internet was really really slow and expensive. We also did not have the current low(er) Internet access charges as well as an ICT Bill that is going to support the growth of local e-commerce.
Going forward, because of all these developments in 2009, and more to come in 2010, things are only going to get better for the Kenyan Music Industry where digital music is concerned. This will lead to dramatic changes in Kenya’s digital music development, marketing, distribution and monetization for all stakeholders. Already, many seem to be ready to cash in on the digital music scene in Kenya. For sometime now, Safaricom has been offering mobile music and ringtone downloads via its Safaricom Live portal. There have been other players like Cellulant, Interactive Media Services and Adtel who have also been in the mobile music and ringtone downloads space for sometime now.
Today, I also learnt of Vuma which is an online music portal dedicated to Kenyan music and operated by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya as well as Liberty Afrika. Vuma is operated as a joint venture that enables Kenyan musicians to market and sell their music online in a revenue share model. Vuma is fully e-commerce capable and currently offers the ability to buy music online using credit and debit cards. Currently, Vuma is charging an average of Kes. 60.00 per song downloaded. Vuma also has a mobile version of its web site which makes a lot of sense considering recent research shows that mobile Internet access is the fastest growing segment in Kenya.
However, at this time, Vuma does not yet offer mobile based payments using either Safaricom’s M-Pesa or Zain’s Zap mobile payments systems – this will be very key if Vuma is to have any chance of achieving critical mass in Kenya amongst over 18 million mobile subscribers. I now know of at least three online mobile payment systems in Kenya that are being operated by Verviant (PesaPal), Intrepid Data Systems (iPay) and Symbiotic Consortium that work with M-Pesa and Zap. I also understand that NairobiNet Online is working on an online mobile payment system. Vuma could easily work with any one of these providers to achieve this objective.
To download my Kenya Music Week 2009 presentation on Embracing Digital Marketing for the Kenyan Music Industry, go here>
In the news today, Kenya has launched digital television (DTV) broadcasting through the national broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). This is a landmark event since the full switch over from analogue TV to DTV is expected to be completed by June 2012 in Kenya. DTV will go live in Nairobi on KBC from today and is expected to be available throughout most of Kenya’s major towns and cities in time for the FIFA 2010 World Cup next year. Owners of analogue televisions will be required to acquire digital TV set-top boxes so as to access the DTV signals.
According to Wikipedia, DTV has several advantages over analogue TV, the most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth, and the bandwidth needs are continuously variable, at a corresponding reduction in image quality depending on the level of compression as well as the resolution of the transmitted image. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital channels in the same space, provide high-definition television service, or provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity. DTV also permits special services such as multiplexing (more than one program on the same channel), electronic program guides and additional languages (spoken or subtitled). The sale of non-television services may provide an additional revenue source.
Published on
December 2, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: announcement, eassy, East African Marine Submarine System, go live, Internet, June 2010, Kenya, Low Prices, offer, Packages, zuku.
For a moment there, I thought that all the Safaricom 3G promotions, Orange Kenya Internet cornucopia, Zain Internet splurges and KDN Butterflies had all but exhausted the rush for low cost Internet for the Kenyan consumer. Clearly, I was wrong! This week Zuku has lowered its Internet packages’ pricing considerably! Below is what they look like now:
- ProSurf (256Kbps) – Kes. 1,499.00 per month.
- SuperSurf (512Kbps) – Kes. 2,499.00 per month.
- MegaSurf (1Mbps) – Kes. 4,999.00 per month.
However, for all the above, there is a one-off installation fee of Kes. 2,999.00. More details on the new pricing and specifications can be found at the Zuku web site here.
In other news this week, an official announcement that East African Submarine System (EASSy) high speed undersea data cable is to go live in June 2010. This EASSy launch will ensure that Kenya has a third high speed undersea cable following the go live of TEAMS and SEACOM in the second half of 2009.
Key differentiators between EASSy and the other two cables is that they intend to offer more competitive pricing, smaller bandwidth packages and shorter contract periods to their customers who will then resell the same to the end-user. Hopefully, this will result in lower Internet pricing and competition between the three cables when they are all live.
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