KICA Amendments: Universal Service Fund use and reporting

Dear Kivuva,

I think only 5% should be used to fund other objectives of the fund 10 %
for miscelleanous in a budget is extraneous. There are many interests
salivating for the fund as we have observed in the recent past. The
objective of the USF is very clear and the fund should be used to fullfill
this fund. CA has whole department that can address quality control issues
hence we don\’t need to legislate this. I think Parliament should not be
misused by selfish interests.

Regards

On Thu, 24 Oct 2019, 4:38 pm Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet, <
[email protected]> wrote:

> This is a continuation of the discusion on the proposed amendment of KICA.
>
> The new amendments to KICA proposed by Hon. Elisha Odhiambo, MP, published
> on March 15th, 2019, seeks to substitute sub-section (2) of section 84J
> that deals with Universal Service Fund (USF), with Communications Authority
> (CA) mandated to provide annual reports to parliament on the utilisation of
> the USF.
>
> (2) The object and purpose of the Fund shall be to
> a) promote the availability of quality of service at just, reasonable and
> affordable rates for all consumers;
> b) increase nationwide access to advanced telecommunications services;
> c) advance the availability of such services to all consumers, including
> those in low income, and rural areas;
> d) increase access to telecommunications and advanced services in schools,
> libraries and rural health care facilities;
> e) provide equitable and non-discriminatory contribution from all
> providers of telecommunications services to the fund supporting universal
> service programs; and
> f) support capacity building and promote innovation in information and
> communications technology services.
>
> (5) The USF shall be utilised by the Commission as follows
> a) 6% shall be used for ensuring the availability of telecommunications
> services to all consumers, including those in low income and rural areas;
> b) 20% shall be used for increasing access to telecommunications and
> advanced services in schools, libraries, and rural health care facilities.
> c)10% shall be used for furthering the other objectives of the Fund as the
> Commission may determine.
>
> The rationale of the bill is to prescribe how the USF is used and make it
> mandatory for CA to report annually on its usage.
>
> What are your thoughts on this new amendment? Does it cover all use-cases
> for USF e.g courier and news services? Are there other considerations you
> would want to be included in the bill?
>
> Warm Regards
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