Government vow to cut cost of Internet

By Fredrick Obura

Internet prices are set to come down by up to 60 per cent following Government intervention last week.

In a meeting with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nairobi, the Government agreed to offer a number of incentives to ISPs to allow them room to reduce Internet prices.

In an Interview, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and Communication Bitange Ndemo said the Government would lower taxes on fuel the telecommunication companies use to run their transformers, revise downwards spectrum fees and review the overall spectrum policy for industry players by end next of month.

cable vandalism

He said the Government is also addressing the rampant fibre vandalism, which has been a huge cost to the industry, as well as classifying ICT infrastructure as national utilities to bring the sector at par with power and water providers.

The new guidelines are expected to allow for compensation by local authorities and public works bodies for damage caused to ICT infrastructure during construction.

During the meeting attended by Key ISPs, Ndemo said the Government also proposed sharing of infrastructure among the operators to help cut down Internet prices, which have remained relatively high despite the landing of three submarine fibre optic cables last year.

He said metro cables would now be shared by the (ISPs) who have cited exorbitant fees charged by the town and city councils as some of the hurdles to affordable Internet.

The action follows a directive from President Kibaki to Ministry of Information and Communication to lower the cost of Internet prices.

During the launch of Government open data website, Kibaki asked the Ministry of Information to dialogue with the private sector to reduce Internet prices.

The President wondered why the Internet prices remained high despite the landing of three fibre optic cables — Teams, Eassy and Seacom.

Kenya is now hooked to three international sub-marine fibre optic cables, which have seen a 90 per cent drop in connectivity costs for big players. However, the same benefits are yet to be enjoyed by citizens.

The wholesale prices on international fibre optic cables have come down to Sh36,000 ($400) from Sh315,000 ($3,500) previously charged by satellite service providers since Seacom, Teams and EaSSy gave Kenya undersea fibre connections.

ISPs, who buy bandwidth in bulk from broadband high-speed Internet sellers such as Seacom, Teams and Eassy and repackage it to sell to consumers, still charge highly.