The Impacts of Broadband Internet on the Value Chain of the Tourism Sector in Kenya

The tourism sector is regarded as the second largest source of foreign exchange revenue in Kenya. Kenya has witnessed revolutionary development of ICTs, especially the recent development in internet with the arrival of the undersea fibre bandwidth in East Africa in 2009/2010. This development has led to many players in the tourism sector in Kenya adopting different ICT platforms to derive positive strategic and operational management and marketing benefits. Specifically, big and medium players have used these platforms to fight off competition and maintain market share, while informal and small players have used the same platforms to make entry into the sector. At the same time, customers are using the ICT platforms to by-pass the middle players and access services directly from the destination holiday providers. The net effect has been increased competition as well asboth positive and negativeimpacts for most of the players. However, there are challenges that prevent the deepening of the more positive impacts. The key ones were found tobethe high cost of developing and maintaining the ICT platforms, relatively unaffordable broadband Internet, lack of adequate human resource skills, lack of affordable online payment platforms and poor quality of broadband connectivity. We provide appropriate policy recommendations to address these challenges

The Impacts of Broadband Internet and Related Technologies on the Value Chain of the Tourism Sector in Kenya

This paper provides initial findings from a preliminary analysis of the evidence using Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model as an analytical lens. The paper establishes that broadband internet and related ICTs have brought about varying changes in the bargaining powers of both suppliers and customers, changed the basis of rivalry among existing competitors and reduced barriers to entry for new players. It also provides conflicting findings on the intermediation effects of these technologies. In addition to these impacts, the paper highlights the challenges with adoption of broadband internet and related ICTs in the sector and ends with some conclusions

Development of a BPO industry in Kenya : critical success factors; CSFs and policy recommendations

PowerPoint presentationThe presentation examines the business process outsourcing (BPO) subsector along with emerging and mature markets. Research findings provide a better understanding of the drivers of success in the BPO industry along with evidence to inform Kenya’s policy decisions and planning. The presentation outlines the scope and methodology of the study, research teams, and some of the findings and recommendations. An educational strategy towards building ICT-BPO skills requirements needs to be developed as well as amendments to the Employment Act

Kenya ICT sector performance review, 2009/2010

Through network development Research ICT Africa (RIA) works to build an African knowledge base in support of ICT policy and regulatory design processes, and to monitor and review policy and regulatory developments on the continent. This report is based on a review of the ICT sector in Kenya from a supply side perspective. The national ICT policy of March 2006 is currently under review. Developments within the sector include increasing convergence of broadcasting and telecommunications, increased need and availability of undersea-fibre bandwidth, and the economic blueprint as factors that policy needs to take into account. This report is detailed and comprehensive

Climate services for the Greater Horn of Africa: interviews exploring practitioner perspectives from Kenya and beyond

Climate and weather services support important decision making in many sectors across the Greater Horn of Africa. Though constantly improving, there is a mismatch between the provision of these services and the needs of target stakeholders. To better understand this, we interviewed 23 practitioners who work with climate, weather, and hydrological information in East Africa, to gain a qualitative understanding of their work and how they use climate services. We found a complex network of stakeholders within this climate services ecosystem, each with their own foci that dictate their information needs and use cases. We found that information is typically transferred from one stakeholder to another by means of a value chain structure. Thematic analysis provided a deeper understanding of participants’ needs and motivations, revealing trust and information suitability as key issues in encouraging uptake. We also found that participants had strong motivations to overcome barriers to improve the livelihoods of end-user communities. We argue for evaluating the broader interconnected climate services ecosystem in a more holistic manner, instead of focusing only on impact in end-user communities, which can lead to the design of better systems and benefits for all stakeholders

Development of a business process outsourcing industry in Kenya : critical success factors; final technical report (June 2008 - July 2009)

Through this study, critical success factors for the business process outsourcing (BPO) service industry in Kenya were identified and clear recommendations provided for policy makers and industry practitioners to support their policy decisions, investment choices and operational approaches. Findings are synthesized in table format with regard to critical success factors in policy making, and legal/regulatory and institutional frameworks of the BPO industry in vendor countries (namely South Africa, India, Mauritius and Kenya). Kenya’s strengths include a highly skilled and competitive pool of labour, neutral English accent, strategic location as a regional hub for communication and finance, and over 30,000 university graduates annually

Two thousand and seven 2007 Kenya telecommunications sector performance review : a supply side analysis of policy outcomes

The review on which this report is based covers the whole of the ICT sector to 2006 and carried out under the framework of ResearchICTAfrica (RIA) Network. In general, ICT responsibilities are distributed between different arms of the government, with little coordination. The regulator has been fairly successful in introducing competition in most ICT markets. However, the fixed-line business is still dominated by Telkom Kenya while the cellular mobile market is still a duopoly. Most stakeholders in the industry perceive service costs as very high, especially mobile telecommunication services, along with unreliable and slow Internet connections

Local Governance and ICTs Research Network for Africa (LOG-IN Africa) : final technical report

Conference participants comprised researchers on local e-governance, practitioners, and policy-makers from governments, academia, industry and non-governmental organizations who shared the latest research in the theory and practice of e-governance. The report outlines findings, which are based on the e-governance roadmap framework and outlines capacities that have been built in the various focus countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, and Uganda