Odinga calls for mobile phone providers to lower tariffs in Kenya

KENYAN Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday (today) called on mobile phone service providers to lower tariffs to promote the usage cellphones in the country.

Odinga said Kenyans were concerned that telephone charges, especially for roaming services, were beyond the reach of many.
He expressed confidence that increased competition in the sector would have a positive impact on pricing and services offered.

“There is need for mobile phone service providers to address the issue of costs. I believe charges could come down further and that would get more people talking, more businesses running and more people employed,” said Odinga.

The Premier was speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre grounds on Thursday during the launch of Econet wireless services into the Kenyan market.

Noting that the mobile phone had great power and influence on the lives of Kenyans even in the rural areas, Odinga said people wanted reliable and affordable services that were also efficient and diverse.

He pointed out that the fact that Kenyans, especially in the rural areas, had quickly embraced the mobile phones, was an indication of the potential the market offered.

Odinga pointed out that the government had allowed competition as a way of improving both the quality and quantity of services provided.

“During the monopoly in the telecommunication sector, services deteriorated and dwindled at the same time. Today, we have embraced the tested philosophy that the private sector, operating in a competitive environment, is the best safeguard to the interests of our people who consume services,” said the prime minister.

Odinga observed that since the liberalization of the telecommunication sector, especially in the provision of the mobile phones and internet services, the country had reaped huge benefits in monetary terms and in the expansion of services, improvement in quality and in reduction of costs, both in the internet and mobile phone services.

He emphasized that the government would continue to provide an enabling environment to ensure the telecommunications sector contributed to the development of the economy by providing rapid, efficient, reliable and affordable communications throughout the country.

Odinga said when people talk and share information they come up with ideas on a wide range of areas, including business, education and health, hence the importance of mobile phones in contributing to that.

“Nobody is in a better position to play this role of information sharing than the mobile phone service provider,” he said.

The Premier stated that Kenya was positioning itself for the provision of offshore outsourcing services to benefit from more information services businesses from abroad.

He observed that with political stability, Kenya could be one of the world’s fastest developing outsourcing destinations due to the large English speaking, educated population, low costs and proximity to and traditional ties with European and Middle Eastern companies.

“Already we have providers of this service who serve customers in the United States, Canada and Europe. They employ about 3,000 people, mostly youth.”

Acknowledging that the biggest obstacle has been the local data and telecommunication infrastructure, the Premier said to address the challenge, the government had invested US$100 million in the East African Marine Systems, an undersea cable to connect Mombasa with the United Arab Emirates.

He said the project slated for completion by 2010, was expected to bring the cost of connectivity down to the levels obtaining in India. The Premier added that the government plans to complete a 5,000 seat technology park and export promotion zone by 2012.

The Minister of State for Public Service, Dalmas Otieno, said the government was keen on redressing the huge disparity of telephone usage between the rural and urban areas.

In this regard, Otieno challenged telephone service providers to roll their services to the rural areas to make communication accessible to all at affordable rates.

Otieno, representing the Minister for Information and Communication, Samuel Poghisio, noted that expansion and improvement of telecommunication infrastructure in Kenya would transform the country into a communication hub.

ITNewsAfrica.com, Nairobi