Regulator allows telcos to join fund after 3-year tussle
PHOTO | FILE The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has rescinded its decision to exclude telcos and broadcasters from the board that will manage a multi-billion shilling fund meant to accelerate ICT services in marginalised areas.
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Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said it had expanded the membership of the Universal Service Advisory Council (USAC) to nine from six to include representatives of the telcos, broadcasters and postal operators.
The move ends a three-year standoff that had stalled the fund, which was to receive 0.5 per cent of revenues from firms regulated by the CCK like Nation Media, Safaricom and Postal Corporation of Kenya.
The communications regulator has rescinded its decision to exclude telcos and broadcasters from the board that will manage a multi-billion shilling fund meant to accelerate ICT services in marginalised areas.
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said it had expanded the membership of the Universal Service Advisory Council (USAC) to nine from six to include representatives of the telcos, broadcasters and postal operators.
The move ends a three-year standoff that had stalled the fund, which was to receive 0.5 per cent of revenues from firms regulated by the CCK like Nation Media, Safaricom and Postal Corporation of Kenya.
The fund, which will also receive cash from the CCK, is expected to raise about Sh1 billion from the players whose annual revenues are said to be Sh200 billion.
“We will allow the six members that were appointed in February to continue working, however we have put a proposal to bring three members from different sectors on board as observers,” said CCK director-general Francis Wangusi.
Mobile phone operators had been demanding to be included in the board, but CCK had opposed the move on grounds that it would amount to a conflict of interest.
The fund is expected to finance sustainable national projects that have significant impact on the availability and accessibility of ICTs in rural, remote and poor urban areas.
It was supposed to come into effect in July 2010 after CCK published regulations on the policy which, among other things, created the USAC to manage and administer the fund but left out the operators.
In the new amendments, CCK has also said that the members of the council would now be appointed by the regulator’s board as opposed to the Cabinet Secretary.
“The proposal seeks to give USAC more autonomy to determine its procedures and consequently enhance it accountability to the board,” said Mr Wangusi.
The cash will also be disbursed as grants and not loans as earlier suggested by the regulator.
The changes were also necessary to avoid breaching banking law, which requires an institution that raises money for loaning to obtain a licence from the Central Bank of Kenya.
Previously, the telcos led by Safaricom had asked CCK and the Information ministry to come up with a national policy on the Universal Service Fund.
In their submission to CCK, the operators also sought the regulator to outline the manner in which the fund would be governed.
The initiative may also support projects that are not profit-driven, but critical for country’s economic health like connecting poor households, persons with disability, schools, health facilities and other organisations that serve public needs.
The universal access and broadband strategies were developed through USAid’s technical assistance.
