Will the Registration Deadline be extended?

With only three days to go, most Kenyans are without any pressure to register their SIMs. As a matter of fact, most will learn of it when they are eventually switched of from the network. Anyway, its quite a challenging deadline to beat, both for the operators and the subscribers. Good to learn that more people are now downloading the registration forms from the respective operator websites and dropping them with the other required credentials at the operator offices. Questions is, when will all these forms be validated and entered into the database? It may take quite some time but we should not rely on that (for those of us who have not bothered)

Apparently, there is no legal backing for the punishment of the offenders of the exercise because the necessary legislation has not been passed yet. This means that the unregistered  subscribers cannot be switched off, at least until the parliament discusses the matter (note that they are currently on recess until next month).

Otherwise it has been reported that Safaricom has already registered 70% percent while all the other operators have registered below half their subscribers. This reminds me of people who have several SIM cards who would definitely find it cumbersome to register separately with different operators and may have decided to abandon their SIM cards.
Read more Cellular News

Download Safaricom registration form here
Check respective websites to download the forms. You only need to fill it and attach you copy of ID before you drop it at any listed dealers in your network. They will be forwarded later.

Finally Michael Joseph resigns!!

By November this year, there will be no more "Kenyans are peculiar people" from the Telecoms industry. This has been confirmed by a press release today by the chairman of the Safaricom Board of Directors who announce the resignation of Michael Joseph. He will be officially out of office on November 1st and he is to be succeeded by 51 year old  Collymore. What MJ will be up to after this resignation is still vague and there is no mention at all about his future. He has faithfully served Safaricom for ten good years and has seen the company grow into a multi-billion company and a market leader after coming in a bit late (remember Kencell?) Good work, we must admit (whether you are on safcom or not)

Michael Joseph, Safaricom CEO

This is definitely surprising as we wait to see whether his successor will be up to the task of holding Safaricom at the helm, as well as providing effective telecoms services! Bob Collymore (successor to be) has been in the industry for more then 30 years and is tipped to be the only befitting successor. He has been with Vodafone up to recently as the Global Purchasing Director. We can only wait and see what he is worth. One thing for sure is that Safaricom has a strong foundation but is currently facing a lot of competition from other local operators. The price wars are getting more and more tougher. They have to keep on innovating and innovating lest they are out smarted.
Recently also, the Number Portability License was awarded  to Swiss company and they are in the process of setting up the infrastructure. I'm eager to see how they will keep their market share when the portability issue is up and running. Of course, they have the most superior 3G network and data to them should be really a strong hold for now, for voice, they will have to rethink, and rethink seriously cos Yu is silently catching up on that.
More info here. Meanwhile we wish him well in his endeavors.
I'm more curious!!!!!!

Are you ready for Number Portability?

After years of lobby amongst industry players, Kenya is finally set for Number Portability. For, starters, number portability simply means, being able to change network operators with a single SIM that is installed on your phone. You will no longer have to buy dual or triple SIM phones since you will be able to change carrier anytime based on network coverage, quality and price. This will definitely make the already fiery price wars much more stiff. As a subscriber though, one can only be happy because everything is only getting better. Sure thing though, is that, the habit of carrying along multiple SIMs will be a thing of the past.

The Communications Commission of Kenya recently announced a License to a Dutch company known as Porting Access BV,  that will be responsible for setting up the infrastructure, roll out and manage Number Portability as from July.The company will be the intermediary between the subscriber and the different Operators.Exact dates are not disclosed, some sources say that it may be realized in December.
Among the other bidders, were companies such as Seven Seas Technologies from Kenya, Teletech from Slovenia, Saab Grintek Technologies from South Africa and Systor Group of Companies.

Locally, the telecoms have always been on a price war, with offers being rolled out every other day. I even doubt whether the consumer is always able to discern between the mash-up and make a befitting decision. People are almost confused of what to use. This roll out will definitely be something interesting as regards local operators. Safaricom, for some while had always been skeptical about this but now, it's inevitable. What I can assure people is that, Safaricom is Smart. They must be having something in the offing to ensure their command in the voice market. For the rest i.e. Zain, Yu and Orange, must be very happy at this, because it makes the playing ground even more level. Level but not straight if you ask me. They must be more innovative.

TECHNICALITIES. (for techies., depends)

On Number Portability, there are some technical terms that you will definitely not avoid. They include,

Number Portability - Number portability is a telecommunications network feature that enables end users to retain their telephone numbers when changing service providers, service types, and/or locations.
Donor Network - Is the network providing service before porting.
Originator Network - Originating network is the network providing service to a subscriber placing a call.
Recipient Network - Recipient network is the network providing service to a subscriber number after porting.
Terminating Network - Terminating network is the network providing service to a subscriber receiving a call.


Operator portability: refers to the ability of a subscriber to retain the same telephone number when changing from one operator to another.
Location portability: refers to the ability of a fixed telephony subscriber to retain the same telephone number when moving from one physical location to another.
Service portability: refers to the ability of a subscriber to retain the same telephone number when changing from one type of service to another.

As you can see, NMP has quite some technicalities but all this will definitely be abstracted from the common subscriber and one will not need to remember all this. For more details on the implementations read HERE

For now, we can only wait and see how it's received by the public domain.

SCOSIT RELAUNCHES TONIGHT!!

Finally the squabbles on SCOSIT power are now over. The two contenders met and they resolved to work together for the sake of the IT community in JKUAT. SCOSIT stands for Society of Computer Science and Information Technology.
If you ask me, this was a very good move given the division that had already began rearing it's head between the Computing department and the IT department. So, it has been agreed that both Kenneth and Kennedy will be in power together (much like power sharing, damn it's becoming common).

The first official SCOSIT meeting is scheduled for today. Actually, top of the agenda is the logo competition whereby the best logo maker will be awarded an instant 1000/= (something good for a random Tuesday night). All members are requested to submit their logos for evaluation during tonight's meeting so that the judges can decide on the winner. Sam, you are good at this.

SCOSIT is very promising. Since it went underground, there has been no club that really stood for the technological advancements in JKUAT JUJA. This is an opportunity for external networking for students and graduands alike. So, we wait and see how the meeting goes. All are welcome. JKUAT students, meeting will be held at the SCC, at 7.30pm.

Find me HERE too.

BOOT CAMP UPDATE- DAY 1

The day was very chilly in the morning but nothing could stop the techies from streaming into Strathmore school for the annual Mobile Boot camp. First day was basically meant for keynote addresses from various known industry players.

Brief Summary of the Talks.

First was, as usuall, an introductory and welcome talk from Dr.Seville. He is the current head at the faculty if IT at strathmore and I must say he is really doing a commendable job.






Then came, Andrew Meme from Safaricom who gave a very enlightening talk on the growth of mobile applications and how to monetize your applications. Talked a little bit about Safaricom's plan on growing content on M-PESA. He also gave us the full structure of the IT stuff at Safaricom which I will blog about later in a separate post.

Secondly came, Daniel Southern from MIT who gave a talk on Mobile Web. He eventually doubled up as the facilitator in the Mobile Web class. He quite an interesting geek. Quiet in his talk but very effective. Knows a lot about Kenya and the technological events here than many of us who actually stay here.

Then there was Michael Wakahe from Shujaa Technologies. He did a presentation touching on the general mobile app development. His was quite simple and straight forward, giving the do's and dont's while creating mobile websites.

Before the lunch break we had a final presentation by Kaburo Kobia. Not really a presentation as such but an open session that solely dwelt on the ongoing "ICT grant". She tells me to remind you that everyone should apply for this and that the deadline is so soon. Both individual and Company grant are welcomed. For more information about the same visit their website .





After the lunch break we then had a couple of presentations. Most interesting were from, Amos Gichamba from Strathmore who presented on M-KULIMA.His project seeks to solve dairy farming record keeping and processing. He has designed as system that enables communication between milk processors and farmers.

Finally, came the most interesting 'show' by Paul Kukubo. Mr.Kukubo(in the photo) is the CEO of the ICT Board here in Kenya. The guy is a tough talker. He speaks so much sense in a very polite way. I can assure you, he has the passion for technology and would do anything to help Kenya's ICT grow as a sector. Meanwhile, he is asking developers to get marketers who can get their work to the market in a suitable business model. He really speaks for the non-techies but smart people coz he said he is the type. That he even has no idea of how code is written yet has so much stake in code written in this country.

Kevin and I also kept our cool at the same venue as we took in whatever we could. Here are some of the pics. We had a good time. For more live tweets follow me here on my twitter account.

STRATHMORE BOOTCAMP UPDATE!

So, I decided to register for the upcoming mobile workshop today. Had a couple of technical issues but all went well and finally got an e-mail confirmation for my registration. After the registration one is supposed to choose a LAB that he/she will attend. The sole reason for this post is to shed more light about the various LABS for the participants during the workshop. There are Five labs available and spaces may be limited. They are basicall divided along the major mobile platforms including symbian, iOS, Android, Blackberry, JavaMe and Windows Mobile.



1. Beginner Java ME- This will cater for J2ME programming. This basically involves programming for small devices with a limited processing power and small memory size e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, consumer electronics, and embedded devices are just some examples of J2ME capable devices.

2.SMS/USSD- Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) allows for the transmission of information via a GSM network. Contrasting with SMS, it offers real time connection during a session. USSD messages are simple to form and easy to send. User can directly enter the ussd string and press call to send the message. A typical USSD message starts with a * followed by digits which indicate an action to be performed or are parameters. Each group of numbers is separated by a *, and the message is terminated with a #. For example dialing *144*1# to check your free minutes on the Safaricom Network. This lab also include general SIM programming.

3.Intermediate J2ME- Basically a more advenced class of J2ME, best suited for those with a light background of J2ME programming.

4.Python- Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Its high-level built in data structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, which make it very attractive for Rapid Application Development, as well as for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components together.

5.Mobile Web- This should be a very interesting lab. Most users of the web use their mobile handsets to view websites nowadays. This lab involves learning how to develop mobile sites that can easily be viewed by mobile browsers.

Lastly we have

6.Android-  This is an up-coming platform that has taken developers by storm. It is tipped to be the next big thing in mobile programming. Android is Google's operating system for mobile devices. It is a competitor to the Symbian platform, Apple's iOS for the iPhone and Microsoft's Windows Mobile for mobile devices.It is a Linux-based platform from the Open Handset Alliance, whose 34 members include Google,Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Qualcomm, and T-Mobile. Some believe Android to be the future of mobile.

That is basically an overview of the labs you will expect at the workshop this week. Meanwhile, make sure that you register. We meet at the SMS/USSD lab.I will definitely be blogging by the day to give up to date proceedings from the venue at Strathmore.

What came of the 4th KENIC AGM?

After some research on the KENIC  website and live tweets by Moses Kemibaro, the following points can be noted. If not yet familiar with KENIC then you may want to read this first.


-KENIC has resolved to set-up working groups for .ke domain name marketing and dispute resolution.
- The .ke domain names have to be registered through a local registrar(ISP) so payments would be done via wire transfer or m-pesa. (really good!!)
-The new .KE registry system actually automates the process of registrants managing their own domain names with kenic instead of registrars. This should be working really well.
-The controversial Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2009 was to de-link 2nd level domains from the kenic registry. This is still pending. We wait and see how it ends up.
-There is an issue of profane domain names that needs to be looked. For instance names associated with porn as is the case in gTLDs. (to control this is almost impossible, but we wait and see how they go about it).
-To-date, commercial .co.ke domain name extensions dominate uptake is over 11,000 in Kenya to-date. To me this is really low but commendable considering the current ICT situation in Kenya (a lot of unawerness, especially by businesses)
-Kenya has over 30,000 schools but only 34 .sc.ke domain names have been registered to-date. A massive opportunity? 
- The prices of the various domain vary as follows 
          1 .me.ke would be Kes. 500.00 
          2. .co.ke would be Kes. 3,000.00.    Both are pre-tax rates. Price also vary with re-sellers/registrars.

It is clear that KENIC is really trying hard to find a way of getting the domains taken up. Looks like they are really having a hard time marketing the new domains but I must say, the launch of the .me.ke is a good move to give people not only individual web presence but also professional presence. It now remains for the local registrars to come up with suitable and appealing products for the common mwananchi out there.
 

4th KENIC AGM forum.

The AGM is still on, I'm compiling info from live tweets on twitter and their site.
Meanwhile KENIC is the official government organization that is responsible for the management of the .ke domain. They recently had launched quite a number of product such as the the .me.ke sub-domains that should spur the uptake of the local domain and eventually add up to Local Content. It was also charged with the responsibility of facilitating growth of the internet sub-sect and foster uptake of ICT's in the country through a public private partnership (ppp's).  Click HERE for more info.