ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i said the ministry is pushing for changes in the Building and Construction Act that could see property developers required to have Internet access points on buildings for use by data providers connecting homes and businesses. Photo/Salaton Njau
What you need to know:
The ICT ministry is pushing for changes in the Building and Construction Act to recognise fibre optic as being an essential infrastructure as is the case with water and electricity.
ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i said the ministry was in talks with other ministries and professional bodies to come up with relevant policy.
The ministry’s broadband strategy launched two weeks ago also proposes road contractors create ducts for ICT infrastructure to avoid cable cuts during road repairs.
Property developers could soon be required to have Internet access points on buildings for use by data providers connecting homes and businesses.
The ICT ministry is pushing for changes in the Building and Construction Act to recognise fibre optic as being an essential infrastructure as is the case with water and electricity.
ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i said the ministry was in talks with other ministries and professional bodies to come up with relevant policy.
Property owners are demanding payments between Sh50,000 and Sh300,000 from data providers looking to connect their buildings, a cost which is passed on to consumers.
The ministry’s broadband strategy launched two weeks ago also proposes road contractors create ducts for ICT infrastructure to avoid cable cuts during road repairs.
Safaricom, Jamii Telecoms and Wananchi Group said they were including the building access fees into their bandwidth prices.
“Telecommunication infrastructure should be clustered as an essential service to ensure that those who tamper with it get to pay for the losses incurred.
“This is the only way we can minimise our expenses and pass on the benefits to the consumer,” said Jamii Telecoms chairman Joshua Chepkwony.
Wananchi Group welcomed the proposal saying landlords were demanding fees to allow them into buildings depending on the location and the number of floors covered.
Dr Matiang’i said the demand runs against the push by policy makers to bring down the cost of connectivity for larger Internet uptake.
“There is no law to compel the property owners to allow us into their premises. Often we are asked to pay access fees to be allowed in or some owners say they have signed exclusive agreements with our competitors thus locking us out,” Wananchi Group chief executive officer Richard Bell said.
Safaricom corporate affairs director Nzioka Waita said building and highway laws should factor fibre optic infrastructure into their designs.
High rents
“Safaricom and indeed all other ISPs are faced with the difficulty of retro-fitting fibre optic cables into pre-existing building. In all cases the landlords levy extremely high rents to allow this infrastructure,” said Mr Waita.
He said the installations were also essential in modern residential buildings.
Communication Commission of Kenya data indicates that Kenya had 16.2 million Internet users at the end of last year.
However, only 1,002,701 were connected to high speed bandwidth.
