Author: Cyrus

Zain Kenya has today announced a  reduction in its off-peak calling rates. Following the move, Zain has slashed calls to other networks by up to 50%. Customers will now pay only Ksh. 3 for Zain to Zain calls and Kshs 6 to call any other network during certain periods of time, everyday of the week. The new rates will apply for calls made between 6pm and 6am every day of the week. The new rates, which do not require any subscription and are not subject to any terms and conditions, will apply automatically for all customers on pre paid and…

This is a guest post by Dr Shem Ochuodho whom we call as the father of internet in Kenya. He is Co-Convenor, New Vision Kenya (NVK-Mageuzi) and Former Chairman, Computer Society of Kenya (CSK) It is commendable of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya (IIECK) to have introduced electronic voting as a sign of readiness to change with the times. After all, Kenya is part of the global village, and we cannot ignore developments in other parts of the world, especially if they help eliminate or minimize electoral malpractices and restore confidence in the electoral system. It is in…

Nairobi Star Business reporter James Mbugua of Nairobi Tech spoke to Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph to get to the bottom of the trouble Kenya’s leading mobile telephone company is having with the Communication Commission of Kenya. Why are you making such a fuss over regulation? Is regulation a bad thing? Regulation is not a bad thing and we are not making a fuss about regulation per se. There are five of them, and we are only making a fuss about two of the regulations and indeed only one element of the regulation is what we are complaining about and making…

East Africa Communications services regulators are up in arms against cyber attack on their equipment in the region.  This was disclosed by Patrick Mwesigwa who is the executive director of Uganda Communication Commission. Apparently the EA states something they call Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT) whose main goal will be to detect and deter cyber attacks in the region. It is very hard to know how CERTs has been constituted but it is said to be a group of experts who have wide knowledge in computer security. The communications regulator in UG, UCC is said to be already in the…

By yvette randa Kenyans will no longer require to peruse directory pages to get the business contacts they need, thanks to the launch an SMS service by Kenya Postel Directories. All of the four mobile networks -Orange, Safaricom, Zain and YU- are compatible with the service that is available at a cost of Sh10.

Facebook could be set to start the roll out location based features within the next month or so according to Adage website. It is being reported that the social media giant will be integrating location based information like Foursquare which was once rumored to be on target of acquisition by facebook. McDonalds are said to be already showing interest in the location services, and the chance to tap into Facebookers’ enormous number. This service might roll out first in US with a very immediate roll out in UK and the wider Europe.

The first non-Latin script domains are now online courtesy of ICANN with Arabic script now being allowed. Egypt’s Ministry of Communications site at http://موقع.وزارة-الأتصالات.مصر/ already has taken advantage of the changes. You will be able to see and open the arabic websites if your browser allows IDN support. Upto now, only Latin script had been the only allowed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. There has been alot of cry for non latin characters’ domains to be allowed. New top-level domains have been reserved for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and The United Arab Emirates . Languages with native…

Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph was on Citizen TV tonight. And he was breathing fire. He is not the normal laid back and “I dont care” man we know. Michael Joseph seems to be in deep shit with CCK and we are loving it and we want more. We want Safaricom to not abuse its dorminant position which Michael Joseph lied that they are not abusing. Ok for a start let me brief you on what MJ was doing with Belinda Obura (I found her very ignorant and out to promote the position of MJ). Safaricom wants specifics added to the fair competition…

Access Kenya seems to be in deep shit. They have refused to confirm it but the resignation of directors from the board points to a boardroom fight. Eddy Njoroge resigned from the board of the Internet Services Provider on 26th March. The provider is also said to be having serious cash flow problems which has resulted in it postponing the Annual general meeting to August. This move might hurt the company but it seems the management is remaining mum with the hope that things will settle down.

Safaricom is spoiling for a fight and the gloves are off. The reason is “unfair regulations” and the stage is the telecoms market. We might just love the fight if it will bring down the exploitative rates we are currently seeing. The bone of contention are the following;

Nigerian Tech company, Encipher Limited, has forayed into the tablet market. The company, through facebook, has launched its own “iPad”. Encipher is a growing tech consultancy company based in the UK and run by two Nigerian technology entrepreneurs, Saheed Adepoju and Anibe Agamah. The Specs we got from Loyokezie and are as follows;

East and Central African leading intergrated solutions provider, Safaricom, has today unveiled a new animation based way of communicating with its 15 million-plus customers. The animation has been produced and directed by Kinematic studios. led by Stefano Cassini. Featuring an animated character called Safis and put together by the firm’s Marketing and Communications Department in partnership with ad agency RedSky, the campaign is meant to convey the benefits of Safaricom’s superior product and service offering in an exciting and easy-to-understand manner.

The OLPC (one laptop per child) group and EAC are partnering to introduce the good for nothing laptop in East AFrica. The program is said to be sponsored by a UN body which is not clear. Their target is to inroduce or deliver more than 30 Million laptops within 5 years. The machines sells for USD 200 and OLPC and EAC plans to find donors to fund the project. The EAC is planning to contact the White House with the hope that President Obama would vouch for them to get the fundings for the laptops. Rwanda has had a long…

In a blog post appearing in Iclarified, Brian J. Hogan, the guy who found the abandoned iPhone is saying that he is no criminal and infact he is going to support his mother and sisters work in Kenya with Orphans. Brian J. Hogan who comes from CA in USA says that he regrets not doing more to return the phone. Hogan was paid for the phone exclusive view by Gizmodo and the latter says they don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

Orange Kenya is not happy with the way things in the Telecoms market in Kenya. The integrated solutions provider is not happy at the way Communications Commission of Kenya which is the market regulator is handling the market. The CEO, Michale Ghossein, is accusing CCK of ineptness, laxity and inability to act and even out the market. Policy not taken care of. – Orange says that the policy in the market is just for the books and is not applied practically in the market.