Oceanic oils raided for illegal telecoms activity

It turns out, that the Safaricom/CCK/Orange sting operation was targeted at an illegal Gateways services provider. The culprit can now be identified as Oceanic Oils of Jubilee House, CBD. Equipment was confiscated from the premises where Oceanic is accused of  setting up intelligent SIM servers in the name of GSM Gateways or simply put Gateways. These Gateways have the capacity to transit and terminate international minutes to any telecom network. In the industry, these servers have also been referred to SIM boxes.

The providers of these boxes are now providing very advanced features such as SIM Allocation and SIM Protection. The boxes also include SIM cards storage capacity with capability to store up to 416 SIM cards which can be increased to about 496 SIMs. They do not discriminate on prepaid or postpaid SIM cards, since the boxes can select the most appropriate SIM card according to how it has been programmed such as credit availability, type of service, country, and operator targeted for termination.

To perform this business; one needs a Gateway Licence from CCK. In this case of raid, Oceanic Oil has been terminating international traffic without the requisite licence from CCK. This action contravenes the regulations.

The motivation of this activity is to avoid paying the licence fee to the commission hence denying the commission its rightful licence fees. Besides the licence fees, the government also loses tax money that they would have otherwise collected from the operators. Besides these losses, the quality of these calls terminated are of poor quality this affecting quality of service provided by the operators.

Pictures of the raid will be uploaded soon.

SWAT TEAM CCK, SAFARICOM: ITS GOING DOWN

A fake phones seller in the CBD is about to be hit in the next 15 minutes by an assorted team of Government agents, CCK, Safaricom and Orange. The agreed time for the operation as of last night is 9:30AM. The owner of the shop (we cannot reveal the name or location at this time in order not to tip them off) is said to be a notorious seller of counterfeit handsets. CCK has issued a deadline for telecom operators to switch off all those using these "grey" handsets and Safaricom says that by looking at its database, it has about 800,000 such users.  The Anti-Counterfeit Agency, which is likely to be part of this morning's sting operation, has claimed in the past it needs to be trained before it can carry out raids. Blogger Robert Alai was on their case recently telling them they needed no training to walk down Tom Mboya street and see the number of counterfeit dealers operating there.

Not so said the ACA. We need a complainant. Apparently, unless a handset vendor complains to them that their phones are being counterfeited, the ACA has no powers under the current law to act creatively and proactively. It is a reactionary body.

Today is expected to be one of many sting operations to come. 

To check if your phone is genuine, get your IMEI number by pressing *#06# on your mobile phone.

CMC saga - Mobicom men gun for Muthoka

Ousted CMC Chair Peter Muthoka

Is Peter Muthoka's gig up? After barely warming the seat he took over from Jeremiah Kiereini as CMC Chairman, Muthoka was muscled out and by all indications flung out into the streets. Joel Kibe, CEO of Mobicom replaced him as chair. His MD, Bill Lay, formerly of General Motors, even called a press conference the other day and basically called Muthoka an embezzler who was hitting the firm for millions in opaque transactions. Muthoka is also the MD of Andy Forwarders, a logistics firm (think DHL, Transami, Siginon Freight etc). Andy Forwarders has exclusive contract to handle CMC's logistics including shipping imports, clearing and forwarding (and that includes the Passat's the government bought).

After getting the mighty boot from the other directors, followed by the damaging press conference, Muthoka hit back with press ads where he promised the matter would not end there.

Basically, besides milking CMC through exclusive contracts that he had given himself, Muthoka is also accused of overcharging CMC in clearance fees at the Port. Bill Lay claimed that when he was MD at GM, Muthoka used to charge him a third of what he charges CMC basically implying Andy Forwarders was inflating the bills.

Muthoka claimed he gives CMC serious business by buying trucks for his business from the firm. CMC is the vendor of heavy commercial vehicles like Nissan Diesel (UD). But according to management, Muthoka was buying the trucks at under quoted prices.


His logistics contract was cancelled.

Muthoka says he will not take it lying down although he hasn't been taking phone calls. By any measure, the man has formidable resourcefulness. CMC was not his only contract, otherwise he would not have shaken President Kibaki's hand at KICC when Kenya Revenue Authority was was issuing certificates and trophies for best taxpayers in the country.

He also does business with Safaricom and EABL. For starters, it seems he is a good man to do a favour for. Reports claim the man routinely hands over brand new Range Rovers to win business. It is said that at Treasury one lady found herself the proud owner of the said vehicle after the Passat deal was inked. Two guys at one of the two companies named above also received Range Rovers while at one of them, a briefcase full of cash was enough to secure business.


At EABL both DHL and Transami were booted and Andy Forwarders given the logistics contract.

At the last meeting where he ran out of aces, Muthoka is said to have threatened Bill Lay.


Enter Mobicom: Unfortunately for Muthoka, in this latest battle he seems to have come up against a formidable and implacable foe. The Mobicom duo; chairman Paul Ndung'u and chief executive Joel Kibe. Mobicom has an interesting story behind it but the long and short of it is that Ndung'u has promised to deal with Muthoka completely. To finish him. This puts Muthoka, who is said to also do business for Moi in some places, in a sticky situation. The forces ranged against him may call upon influence from highest echelons in the land. Mobicome has also made a lot of money first as the biggest Safaricom dealer for about 10 years (it's now a Super dealer for Orange) as well as running SMS lottos like Shinda Smart which raked in hundreds of millions.

Given that Muthoka is not that well liked by those who've met and dealt with him, many palms must be rubbing with glee across the business world. So the question must be asked, Is Peter Muthoka's gig up? It may perhaps, be early to draw the curtains but one thing is for sure; It is unlikely that Andy Forwarders will make the cut for best taxpayers in its category this year.

Internet Governance Forum comes to Kenya

So you already know that Kenya is now one of the hosts of the internet's root servers. These are servers that hold the basic lists of top level domains. Connected together, these servers form the internet. The root server based near YMCA was set up by the ICANN. Anyway, the Sixth Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) conference is scheduled to take place in Nairobi Kenya from 27-30 September 2011 at the United Nations Office in Gigiri, Nairobi (UNON). The issues to be discussed include:

What role are mobile networks playing in providing Internet access to citizens and what needs to be put in place to promote mobile Internet and enhance local content development?

  

Cyber security and Privacy: What policies are required to increase and improve co-operation in this area to ensure that strategies are consistent with policies that protect society while advancing innovation, growth and development?

·         Cloud Computing: What is cloud computing and what are the critical issues in determining the pace and level of development of the cloud?

·         Other thematic areas such the concept of creation of “Knowledge Societies” in cyberspace, content generation, guarding Internet freedom, preserving linguistic diversity, particularly promotion of multilingualism in cyberspace as a commitment toward supporting the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted in 2010 and the Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace adopted in 2005.

 Activities on these dates:

• 26^th September 2011- High level Ministerial Meeting at UNON

Cocktail & Launch of GSMA Report at Tribe Hotel

• 27^th September 2011 – Opening Session at UNON
• 28^th September 2011- Business Round Table at  Tribe Hotel (2-4)

-Cloud Computing Research at UNON

• 29^th September 2011 –IHUB Visit
• 30^th September 2011- Public Lecture at KICC (9-12) 

Khweza consulting of Nairobi is making the arrangements for scribes wishing to attend.

SEO:Search Engine Optimization - Google vs. FB, Twitter

There is a global industry built around this line: Google does not smile. The industry is called SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

In basic terms, if you are a news site, a marketing site, a website or whatever site online, your presence depends on how easily people can find you.

To find things online, most people, turn to Google and Google turns to its humongous index of web pages and returns results based on its rankings.

Depending on the words a person types in Google Search, Google decides which pages are most relevant and gives the results in terms of relevance.

The more relevant the page, the higher up in the results it shows.

Because websites want to be ranked high, they in turn engage in what is called Search Engine Optimization i.e. they optimize themselves for Google and other search engines.


They do this by employing the use of KEY WORDS that Google looks for.

Hence the saying: Google does not smile. If you are a newssite, writing snazzy, funny or catchy headlines takes you nowhere with Google unless you include keywords.

It is for this reason that newspapers carry different headlines online for the same story in the print edition.

Additionally, it is important to note that Google only reads the first six words and anything after is ignored - it therefore makes sense for you to put important information at the beginning.

However, there is also evidence that SEO may not be the main deal in times to come.

The Entry of Facebook and Twitter into the picture is changing all this. Increasingly, people are coming onto websites not from Google but from Facebook after reading friends updates and following the links or from Twitter.

It then makes sense for you to have an interesting update to your website if you want people to share and read it.

Looking at the Kenyan landscape, there is much yet to be done in the way of optimizing websites and increasing their presence online.

According to Alexa.com, the only Kenyan website among the top ten sites visited by Kenyans is Daily Nation's Nation.co.ke, which comes in at number 10. The 15-year old website comes behind such relative newcomers as Google, Facebook, youtube, Gmail and others.

Of course the site has built a community over the years including in the diaspora that religiously visits it but NMG has also been first out of the gate in adopting technologies as they come.

It implemented a Facebook page and got into Twitter ahead of such venerable names as The Economist which is belatedly making a push into social media to drive traffic to its site.

AS a result, the Nation's updates on Facebook draw hundreds of comments indicating an engagement with its readers that only serves to solidify its relationship with them.

In fact it may be said that the one chink in the Nation's armour has been its slowness in implementing a properly focused mobile website. The largest online newspaper site, The New York Times and the number two and three respectively, The Daily Mail and The Guardian, all have mobile formatted sites that fit on the screen of the small devices.

Conventional sites tend to have frames and heavy graphics that are not optimal for the phone.

In any case, for web designers and PR agencies that need to shape their clients image online and marketing departments, it shall serve to keep all the above in mind to foster better client engagement.

CHANNEL 2.0? Safaricom TV

Tech stuff happening here and there.....

Safaricom is already in its 2.0 phase and Bob Collymore is in New York for the Africa Investor Conference...he will be back there next month on an investor road trip when he and maybe Les Baillie will meet the likes of Morgan Stanley and other investment banks and hedge funds that invest in Safaricom.

Anyway, the main news is that Safaricom could be seriously considering entering the TV arena.

I posted here that Airtel is considering bring its Digital TV to Kenya to take on Naspers Group owned DsTV.

As we migrate from Analog to Digital TV the game will change of course because Multi-Choice, the Naspers subsidiary that runs DsTV will also be looking to enter the terrestrial TV transmission field. As we speak, the company is looking for a suitable name as DsTV denotes satellite transmission.

Airtel has said it will offer a cheaper content to compete with Multi-Choice's two content generators; Entertainment Media Network (MNET) and Supersport but given that we are still waiting for them to roll out 3G, that might be ambitious.

Enter Safaricom. Details are scanty but it all has to do with data and content which Safaricom wants to parlay into profits much in the same way it did with voice in its first decade.

What seems likely for now is that like media owners, Safaricom will apply for a digital channel and probably partner with one of two digital signal distributors, Signet a KBC subsidiary and another yet to be named licensee.

Digital TV is not just in Safaricom's interest to invest in, it is also a potentially dangerous opponent in the data field for one reason.

The technology we will adopt for digital TV (DVB-T2 or digital video broadcast generation 2) converts each frequency into 18 digital channels.

However, some of those channels, I believe they are two, are reserved for data transmission/internet.

With a TV set in almost every urban household these days, and the mandatory migration to DVB-T2, it means then that the perennial and vexing question of how to economically bridge the last mile to households will have been solved in one fell swoop.

Should another content provider/ISP seek to exploit this channel, they could be in every household and become the preferred internet service provider.

And then Safaricom 2.0 could become derailed.

CARTEL BUST! EVERY MAN A KhZ. NDEMO VS MEDIA MOGULS

AS has often been the case in Bitange Ndemo's stellar reign at the Ministry of Information, foes are never in short supply.

Whether it is telecom operators opposing regulations, media presenters raising ruckus over amendments to communications laws or sub-marine cable entrepreneurs fighting to get him out of office, Bitange Ndemo has always faced them down.

Enter his latest battle; this one pitting him against a familiar foe/nemesis - Media Moguls.

The issue this time revolves around the migration of TV broadcasting from using analog signals to digital ones. More specifically DVB-T2 (digital video broadcasting terrestrial - 2nd generation).

Media owners claim they are being screwed and have even gone to the extent of organizing for a meeting with Information Minister Samuel Poghisio to push their case against what they see as high handedness on Ndemo's part.

They claim that they have been submitting digital signals from their broadcasts for the trial phase of DVB in Kenya for free, only for those same signals to be resold to Kenyans through SMART TV.

They argue that SMART TV is reaping commercial benefits from their content.

That seems fair enough and in fact the media owners, as is their prerogative, have gone ahead and discontinued provision of these signals to the state broadcaster KBC - the sole licensed digital signal distributor in the country.

AHEM.

Enter Bitange Ndemo - "They don't want to see the future," says the PS.

In fact, the reason behind the media owners resistance, is not the publicly stated content dispute.

It has to do with, says the PS, selfishness and a need to monopolize frequencies in this country which Ndemo says he has refused to assent to.

You see, under the new DVB-T2 format, one analog frequency such as the one KTN, Kiss TV or NTV may be holding can yield up to 18 digital channels (four of them HD channels).

The only problem is that media owners, many of whom were irregularly allocated the frequencies in the first place, want to migrate with the frequencies to the digital world and the gazillion digital channels that come with them.

So each frequency owner could end up owning more than 15 digital channels to then peddle or speculate with.

NO WAY!!! Ndemo says.

Digital channels, will be allocated according to content. If you have content for five channels, you will get five channels.

If you have content for only one channel, that is what you get.

Every man who can come up with content, can have a channel pure and simple.

The Oligarchs are not happy. And so the battle continues!