Access Kenya last week announced that they are live on Seacom with 2.5Gbs, and still have 2.5Gbs on Teams (for rendundancy) making a total of 5 Gbs, That's more than was actually available for all Kenyan ISP's prior to the landing of the fibre optic cables.
With this they have doubled download speeds for all their customers.And promised to double again next year,this means that for those who had 256Kbps you should now have 512 and in less than 1 yr should be getting 1Mbps. This is very encouraging.
We have an access kenya connectionin the office and the speeds have no doubtedly improved.
Am sure all ISP's will follow suit or come up with better offers.
However the dissapointing fact is there will be now price reductions any time soon as most ISP's are claiming they need to recoup the capital investment.
With the arrival of the cables most people were hoping for increased speeds and reduced costs.
And until this happens there can't be significant increase in Interenet connectvity which is still quite low in the region.
Let's just say there's still a long way to go before the much hyped benefits are realised.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Apple planning Social App?
Word on the street doing the rounds suggests that apple inc are planning to tie iTunes 9 into a “Social” application.
iTunes has few social features so this could be right for them.
According to boygenious,the application will allow you to broadcast what music you’re currently listening to, allow you to share your music with people on your network, connect with your friend’s friends and update all of your statuses at the same time. ITunes 9 will let you broadcast music statuses as well.
iTunes has few social features so this could be right for them.
According to boygenious,the application will allow you to broadcast what music you’re currently listening to, allow you to share your music with people on your network, connect with your friend’s friends and update all of your statuses at the same time. ITunes 9 will let you broadcast music statuses as well.
Surveys: Top 10 Most Profitable Vendor Certifications
In the 2009 Certification & Training Survey the top 10 certifications most valuable to solution providers are
10. Citrix
9. SalesForce.com
8. Sun Microsystems
7. Dell
6. Vmware
5. HP
4. IBM
3.Oracle
2. Cisco
1. Microsoft
The review concludes that " By far, enterprises and midmarket companies give Microsoft certifications their highest rating."
Learn more about the certiftication survey here.
10. Citrix
9. SalesForce.com
8. Sun Microsystems
7. Dell
6. Vmware
5. HP
4. IBM
3.Oracle
2. Cisco
1. Microsoft
The review concludes that " By far, enterprises and midmarket companies give Microsoft certifications their highest rating."
Learn more about the certiftication survey here.
Facebook Flips The Switch On Real-Time Search, Goes After Twitter Where It Hurts
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Number Portability long overdue in Kenya
The announcement by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) of an approximately 1 year deadline to introduce number portability service. Service providers have 6 months to start implementing the service.
Number portability allows a subscriber to retain there number while migrating from one service provider to the other. The 3 underdogs (Zain,Orange and YU) were undoubtedly very elated. The dominant player (Safaricom) is not,and am sure they will put all obstacles possible towards achieving this as they definitely stand to lose the most.Their CEO was already on TV critising the service talking of how expensive it is to implement and ineffectiveness in getting subscribers to migrate.
CCK has asked the public to give its views. CCK says studies carried out by the commission indicate that Service Provider Number Portability (SPNP) offers effective intervention in markets that are dominated by single players.
From a consumer point of view this is long overdue. Furthermore it has already been implemented in African countries including South Africa,Nigeria and Egypt
However the one time fee of KSh. 1000 to users is extorbitant. Most Kenyans will be wondering what makes more sense between loading airtime worth Sh 1000 and making a switch.
The service should be either free as in most countries like Brazil,Israel, UK, Ireland and many others or for a reasonable fee such as the one Safaricom is suggesting of about Sh 20 (same as a SIM card).
The proposed 3 day period it will take for the switch to effect is too long considering it takes a mere 20 minutes some countries such as in the Republic of Ireland.
These are some of the challenges that need to be addressed before this service is implemented.
Number portability allows a subscriber to retain there number while migrating from one service provider to the other. The 3 underdogs (Zain,Orange and YU) were undoubtedly very elated. The dominant player (Safaricom) is not,and am sure they will put all obstacles possible towards achieving this as they definitely stand to lose the most.Their CEO was already on TV critising the service talking of how expensive it is to implement and ineffectiveness in getting subscribers to migrate.
CCK has asked the public to give its views. CCK says studies carried out by the commission indicate that Service Provider Number Portability (SPNP) offers effective intervention in markets that are dominated by single players.
From a consumer point of view this is long overdue. Furthermore it has already been implemented in African countries including South Africa,Nigeria and Egypt
However the one time fee of KSh. 1000 to users is extorbitant. Most Kenyans will be wondering what makes more sense between loading airtime worth Sh 1000 and making a switch.
The service should be either free as in most countries like Brazil,Israel, UK, Ireland and many others or for a reasonable fee such as the one Safaricom is suggesting of about Sh 20 (same as a SIM card).
The proposed 3 day period it will take for the switch to effect is too long considering it takes a mere 20 minutes some countries such as in the Republic of Ireland.
These are some of the challenges that need to be addressed before this service is implemented.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Mobile Money Transfer posing serious security challenge
Two days ago a friend of mine narrated to me the ordeal his relative underwent after being kidnapped in one of Nairobis estate.The kidnappers used his phone to contact his family demanding USD 5000.What struck me was the mode of payment they insisted on,which was M-PESA, Safaricom's mobile based money transfer. There has been a recent wave of kidnappings in the City. A while ago thugs (most of whom were in jail) would call someone they know and threaten you with murder if you failed to send a certain amount of money to their mobile based accounts.Most people sent them the money losing their hard earned cash easily.
Obviously Mobile based money transfer is the preffered mode/enabler for such crimes as the only two other options available are not viable,Cash delivery would expose them to being ambushed outright by cops, while bank accounts are well regulated and thus it's easy to follow the money.
The recent Govt. directive for Mobile SIM card users registeration can be seen as a positive step but is not sufficient.
I think more needs to be done now,Mobile based money transfer services such as ZAP and MPESA should now be put under CBK regulations and thus account opening/monitoring should follow same regulations as Bank accounts. There should be CCTV servuillance at all agents/dealers where subscribers can withdraw/deposit cash.This may mean fewer agents and this is not obviously music to the ears of Mobile operators.
But Security has a price !!!Otherwise uncontrolled and unregulated the trend of mobile based theft will worsen.
Obviously Mobile based money transfer is the preffered mode/enabler for such crimes as the only two other options available are not viable,Cash delivery would expose them to being ambushed outright by cops, while bank accounts are well regulated and thus it's easy to follow the money.
The recent Govt. directive for Mobile SIM card users registeration can be seen as a positive step but is not sufficient.
I think more needs to be done now,Mobile based money transfer services such as ZAP and MPESA should now be put under CBK regulations and thus account opening/monitoring should follow same regulations as Bank accounts. There should be CCTV servuillance at all agents/dealers where subscribers can withdraw/deposit cash.This may mean fewer agents and this is not obviously music to the ears of Mobile operators.
But Security has a price !!!Otherwise uncontrolled and unregulated the trend of mobile based theft will worsen.
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