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NATIONAL ICT POLICY
Overview of Sector Policy and the Regulatory & Institutional
Framework.
The ICT sector policy and regulatory environment in Kenya
that have evolved over the past several years were initially characterised
by different and often discrete policy and regulatory regimes
dealing with the specific policy requirements of different sub-sectors.
The quest for the development of a comprehensive policy framework
that would address Kenya's needs for the entire sector, and other
which it supports, started around 2000/2001 when, spurred by global
trends, the local ICT sector started to change dramatically and
rapid technological advances ushered in new socio-economic challenges
and opportunities via convergence in ICTs.
Institutional Framework: Creating a Competitive Environment
In 1997, the government released the Telecommunications and Postal
Sector Policy guideline that created an environment for competition
in several market segments and paved the way for the Kenya Communications
Act of 1998 that repealed the Kenya Posts and Telecomunications
Corporations (KPTC) Act and set the stage for institutional reform
in the sector. The repeal of the Act led to the establishment
of:
- The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), then known as
the Telecommunications, Radio Communications and Postal Sector
Regulator, which has since been upgraded to a regulator of the
entire ICT sector;
- The National Communications Secretariat (NCS) to serve as a
policy advisory body to the government on ICT;
- The Communications Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to resolve disputes
within the sector;
- Telkom Kenya Limited as the telecommunications service provider;
and
- The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) as the postal services
operator.
Subsequently, other operators, particularly in the telecommunications
sub-sector and specifically in the provision of mobile telephony
services (Safaricom and Celtel) have establised themselves, widening
the scope and diversity of access to ICT and to telecommunications
services in general for the population of Kenya.
Policy Framework: Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide
The unified National ICT Policy was officailly launched through
Kenya Government Gazette Notice No 24 dated 31st March 20006.
It was the culmination of extensive consultations initiated in
2001 with a board spectrum of stakeholders under the co-ordination
of the Ministry of Information and Communications aimed at benchmarking
experiences from elsewhere and a collating views as a prelude
to developing a comprehensive, homegrown and dynamic national
ICT policy framework.
The launch of the National
ICT policy in March 2006 and the policy proposals
contained therein have had a major impact on the ICT sector in
Kenya. Among the key thrusts of the policy is the opportunity
to use ICT as a catalyst for accelerating the country's socio-economic
development in general and improving the welfare of the population
in partictular. Indeed, one of the core principles implicit in
the policy is the significant developmental benefits in all spheres
of life that ICT can bring about. The Deaf now communicate
more using short text messages and email for example.
The policy emphasises that, for the country's developmental objectives
to be achieved, universal access to affordable ICT services is
necessary. In section 2.6, the policy notes that access to ICT
services is limited to a few major towns, leaving out the rural
areas and hence cutting out the majority of Kenyans from the enjoyment
of these services. This digital divide between
the urban and rural populations is the focus of the implementation
strategy of the current ICT Master Plan. The divide is also the
biggest challenge the government faces and underline its policy
strategy to identify and implement ICT programmes that will lead
to low-cost provision of ICT goods and services in line with the
overall policy objective of attaining univeral access at affordable
costs. This is quite paramount if free education is to reach
children with disabilities in their schools at an affordable cost
and bearing in mind inadequate trained special education teacher.
online services in sign are expensive without affordable broadband
across the country.
In order to advance this universal access objective,
a Universal Sevice Fund (USF) for the ICT sector will be set up
to support the realisation of universal access to un-served and
underserved areas of the country. An institutional and regulatory
licensing framework for universal access and its financing is
to be establishes within CCK through an amendment of the Kenya
Communications Act that will take into account national development
prioities and emerging ICT convergence challenges.
The government has also, alongside the ongoing implementation
of the National ICT Policy, undertaken other initiatives and programmes
that currently define the sector policy landscape, including the
restructuring of the national telecommunications service provider,
liberalisation of various market segments in the sector, licensing
of other operators and sevice providers in the sector, encouraging
private sector onvestments in the sector through the provision
of an enabling policy and regulatory framework, as well as adressing
emerging issue in the broadcasting and postal sub-sectors.
Within the overall policy and institutional framework, the government
has also developed and released an e-Government Strategy Paper
that provides the roadmap for the delivery of omproved and efficient
sevices to the public, enhancement of communication services and
provision of open lines of communication between the government
and its citizenry and the business community.
The government is consequently, working towards establishing
the infrastructure required to facilitate delivery of online government
services to the public at the provincial and district levels,
and in the medium to long term, at the constituency level as well.
The government has also initiated a programme through the Office
of the President to facilitate the digitisation of government
records to enhance the delivery of e-government services to all
Kenyans. This will provide services at button touch quite
convinient to persons living with disabilities in accessing public
services.
Source Summary Document of National ICT Plan
additions by Disabilitykenya
Category: Inclusion,
education
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