Kenyan firms urged to host data locally

As Kenya counts losses arising from cable cuts that happened three weeks ago, companies have been advised to use local hosting for their websites and data.

This, it is hoped, will help reduce disruption of their services.

The cuts have forced Kenyans to endure slow or completely no access to their emails and websites, since most firms are hosted by companies abroad.

"If we were hosting most of our traffic locally, we would not be having such a big slowdown and it would be a better experience for the end-user than the mess we are in now," says Mr Barry Apudo, a senior technical officer at Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya.

By being hosted abroad, it means internet traffic has to use international fibre cables such as the Seacom, Teams and Eassy, which connect the country to the other regions of the world.

"Hosting locally is better because the host company can manage and service the data centre better. Companies that host locally must be encouraged.

Part of this process includes having as much local content as possible and digitising and automating processes within the private and public sector," said Kenya ICT board chief executive Mr Paul Kukubo.

According to the Information and Communication permanent secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo, Kenyans should start promoting local hosting of traffic by embracing local e-mails instead of the normal yahoo or google addresses.

Currently, most local websites are hosted abroad with only 14,000 .ke domains.

According to the regional development manager for Internet Society in Africa and chief technical officer at the Kenya Internet Exchange Points Mr Mwangi Michuki, the country has enough capacity to host all local websites.

By CHARLES WOKABI

Social media has changed the rules

The one thing we should have anticipated was that social media would revolutionise the way content was gathered and distributed.

Since everyone has an opportunity to create and distribute content, anyone can become a private media house. One distributor could easily reach one billion people in a matter of minutes.

But with this great opportunity came great irresponsibility. Initially, the masses started interacting with social content, outstripping access to pornographic sites, which until then were the most visited sites worldwide.

Today, here we are, sitting in a world where communicating with a country's leader is as easy as typing an SMS, and better yet, the leader responds.

President Paul Kagame has proved that social media is beyond the control of aloof media advisers who sometimes rely on other ways of controlling their communication channels.

Having an online alias means you can be anyone and you can abuse the system. Politicians, public... on social media, they are equal.

With the run-up to the elections, social media managers are the new media gurus, not that there is a course called social media at any university or college.

Do not get me wrong; it is a reputable job, but it is proving to be one of the toughest around. Why? Control.

Social media is worse than a bush fire in the savannah during a drought.

Once it starts, it is nearly impossible to stop until it runs its course, and the damage it leaves in its wake is far more dangerous than all other forms of media put together on any single day.

The distribution system that is social media is extremely effective; it leaves very little untouched once it is out in public.

The general unwritten disclaimer basically ensures that if you are wrong, you will certainly be punished.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the famous 16th century banker, once made a statement that basically determined how mainstream media has been perceived over the past century in Africa, and more specifically in Kenya.

He admonished his children that if they could not get the general public to love them, the next best option was to get the public to fear them.

The rule persisted from the 1700s until the 20th century. This rule, and others like it, have however since changed.

The 21st century ensured that everything belonging to the last century remained there.

Politicians may attempt to control mainstream media, censor it, and influence content, but that control is more likely to ruin than benefit them.

One thing is certain: social media has certainly created bolder and more voracious activists who have no fear of self-expression and who will not hesitate to publicly vanquish an opponent.

Social media is steadily forcing politicians to relinquish control of all forms of media, since they are learning that an iron fist is less useful than actually doing their jobs.

As is being proven across the world, and soon in Africa, politicians who are not cautious about where they tread will be judged on social media, and in many cases the judgment will be harsh.

There are an estimated 1.8 million people on Facebook in Kenya, according to Safaricom. A rather impressive figure, but there needs to be a realistic perspective into who is doing what where.

The perspective, in my opinion, is that even if the number of users doubles, it is still far below the 40 or so million Kenyans who are primarily served by mainstream media.

During the launch of Google+ Hangouts in Nairobi a few days ago, Ms Martha Karua, the MP for Gichugu, said social media is playing a key role in her campaign and her communication with her constituency, and that if someone lacked the ability to attend a rally, they could watch it live online.

Admirable? Yes. Realistic? Unfortunately not, considering the generally limited access to computers, the Internet, and the finances to remain online for hours.

Social media has, unfortunately, created what I imagine to be an apathetic social system. There seems to be a ranking based on criteria like alliances, schools of thought, and wealth.

The antithesis in this column is that mainstream media remains king and has a wider reach, even though it lacks interactivity.

Social media has a long way to go before it becomes the mainstream, which means that lessons can still be learned.

By KAHENYA KAMUNYU

Fresh cable cuts hits businesses

Businesses that rely on internet connectivity have been hit hard, as cable cuts left them offline over the last two days.

Internet service providers reported repeated outages across the country as construction crews and vandals cut Kenya’s core inland fibre-optic link on the Mombasa-Nairobi route.

The cable is currently Kenya’s sole connection to the international internet gateway via the undersea fibre optic cables.

The cut comes at a time when two major undersea fibre optic cables are operating expected capacity, leaving providers to call for stiffer penalties to curb vandalism and unwarranted cuts.

Hardest hit was electronic currency trading, as the outage caused left banks unable to communicate with each other on the inter-bank system and were left to turn to sharing information manually or over telephone.

The downtime depressed trading volumes by over 50 per cent in some institutions. Internet banking services, ATMs and mobile banking services were also affected.

“Everyone is very cautious about trading without a full picture of what is happening in the market,” said Standard Chartered Currency trader, Mr Dickson Magecha.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms bemoaned losses while telecommunications firms and ISP providers moved quickly to supplicate their clients with apologies over the situation.

Traders at the Nairobi Securities Exchange reported problems communicating with overseas investors, as the cable cuts have affected both international calls and internet connections.

The cuts primarily affected Kenya Data Network’s (KDN) infrastructure. Contractors doing working in Jomvu and Miritini cut the cable in some areas while exposing it to vandals in other areas.

KDN carries over 80 per cent of all international traffic from Kenya. Clients who rely on the fibre line include Airtel and Access Kenya. The company undertook repairs yesterday and services resumed albeit with some instability.

“We are back online, but we are still having issues here and there,” said Access Kenya CEO, Kris Senanu.

Viewers of Wananchi Group’s cable TV service, Zuku, continued to face disruptions in transmission throughout the day.

Telkom Orange has a fibre optic link on the same route and its services were also affected. The company was already experiencing service degradation in its Ugandan markets after a cable in Eldoret was cut on Monday.

KDN’s redundancy links running on Kenya Power’s aerial infrastructure were incapacitated at the time of the incidence. KDN’s CEO, Mr Shahab Meshki, called for stringent penalties for vandals.

“There needs to be stiffer penalties for cases of vandalism and/or unwarranted cuts to curb unnecessary disruptions caused to the business community,” he said in a statement released on Wednesday.

By MUTHOKI MUMO