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Since 1986

M-Pesa services return to normal

mpesaBusiness Daily By OKUTTAK MARK

Thursday, March 7  2013

M-Pesa services across the country returned to normal on Tuesday as most agents resumed business to the relief of customers who had difficulties depositing cash.

Most outlets remained closed on Monday, which was a public holiday, as Kenyans went to vote. On Tuesday only a few were open, but the operators reported insufficient electronic cash (float).

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Technology failure regrettable

voterNearly 24 hours after the polls closed, Kenyans were on Tuesday still awaiting the outcome of the election for which they endured hours of waiting to participate in.

The wait, which was expected to go late into the night last evening, is one Kenyans did not expect given the assurances that the IEBC gave the electorate that it was ready for the polls .

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Kenya on the right track to era of electronic voting, say IT experts

voterBusiness Daily By GALGALLO FAYO

Tuesday, March 5  2013

The use of electronic devices to verify eligibility of voters and in the transmission of results has raised hopes that electronic voting could be introduced in the next General Election in 2017.

However, technical hitches with some of the electronic voter identification devices as Kenyans voted on Monday spoilt the party when the polls agency resorted to the manual register in the affected centres.

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Global firms eye phones market share

Mobile-surfingSunday Nation By CHARLES WOKABI

Sunday March 3, 2013

Competition for the local smartphone market is racheting up as new entrants fight for a slice of the revenue accruing from the increased demand for data services.

Technology multinationals have been growing the appetite for the data devices market with products from US firms Intel and Microsoft already on the local market.

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Survey finds savers prefer banking on mobile phones

M-PesapxBusiness Daily By JAMES KARIUKI 

Friday , March 1  2013

Mobile phone money services have become the preferred avenue of savings around sub-Saharan Africa according to a study published by a global mobile operators’ lobby.

The 2012 Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey shows that 81.8 million cellphone subscribers had mobile money accounts, with global use of the handsets for deposits growing by almost 38 per cent.

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Tech firm takes business listing hassle off clients

nickBusiness Daily By Okuttah Mark and Charles Mwaniki

Thursday, February 28  2013

Registering a business has always been a daunting task, especially for those in upcountry since they not only have to travel to Nairobi but at times engage the services of brokers and end up with fake registration certificates.

However, this is set to change with the unveiling of an online business registration system that allows users to either do a name search or register a company through their mobile phones or office computers from any part of the country.

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Consumer group boss quits CCK board race

cfkDaily Nation By Nation Repoter

Wednesday Feb, 27, 2013

Consumer Federation of Kenya secretary general Steve Mutoro has dropped his bid for appointment to the communications regulator board, as rivalry between the two parties continues deepen.

Instead, Cofek will now forward the name of its vice chairman, Mr John Juma, to represent consumers’ interest in the Communications Commission of Kenya board, as required by the law.

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Mobile firms to pay millions for new ICT fund

dukanaBussiness Daily By OKUTTAH MARK

Tuesday, February 26  2013

The communications industry has appointed six members to a council paving the way for players to begin paying 0.5 per cent of their revenue to help people in marginal areas access services.

This comes at a time when the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has forwarded a policy document to the Information ministry to back the Universal Access Fund (UAF).

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Fresh row brewing between consumer lobby and CCK

cofexThe Standard By Paul Wafula

Monday 25, Feb 2013

The communications industry regulator is in a fresh clash with a consumer’s lobby group over the appointment of members to its board after it asked for members of the public interested in the job to apply.

The Consumers federation of Kenya (Cofek) has termed the advertisement that appeared on the dailies on Friday as illegal and threatened to pursue the case filed against the communications regulator to its full determination.

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Consumer lobby says to pursue case against CCK

cofexBusiness Daily By Okuttah Mark

Saturday, February 23  2013

The consumer lobby group, Cofek, has said it will pursue to its full determination a case it filed against the telecommunication industry regulator.

Cofek, which lodged the case challenging the appointments to the board of Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) in January, also termed the recent advertisement of a consumer representative position by the regulator as illegal.

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Lenovo to introduce tablets locally

lenovopixDaily Nation By  MUTHOKI MUMO

Thursday, February 21  2013

Chinese computer and mobile devices maker, Lenovo, is set to expand its Kenyan business.

The firm, which sells its products through distributors in Nairobi, said that it plans to open shops in Mombasa and Kisumu.

During a press briefing yesterday, the company also said that it would be introducing a new range of tablets running on Android software to the Kenyan market next month through Safaricom.

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Telkom dumps copper for fibre lines to cut costs

copperwireBusiness Daily By Okuttah Mark

Wednesday, February 20  2013

Telkom Kenya is replacing its copper infrastructure with fibre optic cables at a cost of Sh4 billion as it seeks to cut maintenance budget and improve quality of its voice and data services.

The move is seen as an effort to claw back lost ground in the data market where players have made inroads.

Tuesday, during a briefing to more than 40 company executives and top government officials, the majority French-owned firm said it had been forced to replace the copper due to rampant vandalism, which is negatively affecting its service delivery.

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Kenya ICT Board chief executive to leave in June

ICTpxDaily Nation By NATION REPORTER

Wednesday, February 20  2013

Paul Kukubo is set to leave as the chief executive of the Kenya ICT Board once his contract expires in June. Reports indicate that Mr Kukubo, who has headed the board for the last five years might be heading to the East African Commodities Exchange to be established in Rwanda by mid this year.

The board’s deputy chief executive, Mr Victor Kyalo, is also leaving his post in June and is set to go back to teaching at the University of Nairobi.

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Paul Kukubo, Victor Kyalo, set to leave ICT Board

images618/02/2013 | rebecca

After five years at the helm of the Kenya ICT Board, Paul Kukubo is leaving his post as CEO and Taking over as the head of the East Africa Commodities Exchange. No website yet but you can read more about it here. Paul’s contract was renewed in 2010 for three years through this Gazette notice.

Victor Kyalo, the Deputy CEO at the board is also set to leave, to go back to teaching at the University of Nairobi, but he will probably not take long before he bounces back to the ICT sector . He lectures/teaches electrical engineering at the University.

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Tech giants lock horns over police systems tender

HtechpixDaily Nation By ABIUD OCHIENG’

Monday,18 Feb 2013

Two Chinese tech heavyweights are engaged in a protracted legal battle over the control of a multi-billion shilling tender to supply Kenyan police with communication and surveillance system.

China’s state-owned Huawei Technologies had on January 22 this year moved to court and obtained an order blocking the ministry of Internal Security from signing a deal with privately-owned ZTE Corporation, which had apparently won the tender, until an application filed in court is heard and determined.

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Home Corporate News Corporate News Digital TV switch set for September 15

mutoroBusiness Daily By Mugambi Mutegi

Saturday Feb 15 2013

About one million analogue television-set users in Nairobi now have until September 15 to invest in digital convertors after the day was settled on as the new switch off date.

The date, agreed upon by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) on Thursday, ended a stalemate between the two parties that had reached the courts.

The two parties also agreed that measures to help reduce the cost of the set-top boxes be looked into over and above increasing the licensed vendors from the current 22.

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UK firm seeks regulator’s nod to merge former Merali companies

meraliBusiness Daily By OKUTTAH MARK

Fraiday February 15  2013

Liquid Telecoms, the new owner of Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and Swift Global, is seeking regulatory approval to merge the two firms to counter stiff competition in the sector.

The merger of the firms, previously owned by Naushad Merali, would mean consolidation of the managements and may lead to some positions becoming redundant.

It was not possible to ascertain which positions would be affected as officials from KDN said the consolidation awaits regulatory approval with an official communication expected before the end of March.

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Kenya ICT Masterplan to be launched tomorrow

ict boardPosted By Rebecca
Wednesday, 13 Feb 2013

The Kenya ICT Board is set to launh Kenya’s four year ICT master plan. It projects that by 2017:

  1. Every citizen, resident, home and institution will be connected through a countrywide robust, accessible and affordable ICT infrastructure.
  2. Kenya will become the leading ICT HUB in Africa attracting leading global players and generating globally respected local entrepreneurship and innovation.
  3. Public Services will be available to all citizens through ICT and ICT will enable a truly open and efficient Government delivering meaningful value to citizens.
  4. Kenya will be a Knowledge Based Economy. All Kenyans will be able to use ICT to improve their knowledge, businesses and livelihood. ICT will contribute greatly to Kenya’s economic growth.

I am sure we have heard such lofty plans of where we will be in four, five, ten thirty years and it is great to have such projections but I have an issue with the opening statement on page five:

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Tech firm woos banks with security device against ATM fraud

atmBusiness Daily By OKUTTAH MARK

Wednesday February 13  2013

A local IT firm, Star Tech, is introducing ATM-fraud detection products as financial institutions feel the pinch of losses exceeding Sh4 billion annually, partly from leakage at the cash machines.

At the moment, most ATMs in Kenya use the magnet strip technology, which has made them an easy target for skimmers who have stolen millions of shillings from bank clients.

Card skimming, the illegal copying of information from magnetic strips found on credit and debit cards, is on the rise with the fraudsters taking advantage of the growing number of people using the cards in transactions.

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Safaricom gets vendor to run higher capacity M-Pesa platform in Kenya

M-PesapxDaily Nation By MUTHOKI MUMO

Tuesday February 12  2013

Mobile phone services company, Safaricom, is finalising on the details of a contract to replace its current mobile money transfer platform in a move that is expected to reduce system outages and improve transaction speed.

In an interview with the Nation on Monday, the firm’s chief executive officer Bob Collymore said the company has now identified a vendor to provide the new M-Pesa platform that will be hosted locally.

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