4.2 Integrated ICT Infrastructure 4.2.1 Setting the Context Kenya currently boasts of being one of the most connected countries on the Eastern Coast of Africa. There are four submarine cables; TEAMS, EASY, SEACOM and LION that offers connectivity to the rest of the world via redundant routing. Inland, the NFOBI has cut across the country and reaches more than half the 47 County Governments. ‘The most utilized and accessible ICT infrastructure in Kenya is the mobile phone’ The most utilized and accessible ICT infrastructure in Kenya is the mobile phone. By the end of 2013, there were four licensed mobile operators with a total subscriber base of 30,549,422. There were 80,894 and 12,775 second and third generation mobile cellular system transceivers respectively across the country. There were 18 tier 2 and 13 tier 3 network facility providers; 3 authorized satellite providers who have the ability to provide internet transit; 39 BPO operators; and 219 telecommunications vendors. The infrastructure providers have an infrastructure sharing code of practice with clear guidelines that is agreed upon by the operators. It is the spirit of infrastructure sharing that the operators keep local traffic local via the Kenya Internet Exchange point; centrally monitor network security via the industry computer security response team and have a central manager for the country code top-level domain name .ke. The above shared infrastructure is regionally and globally recognized as best practices. The Government and parastatals are using online platforms to provide services to the citizens. For instance, the Kenya revenue authority has been able to effectively deploy an integrated tax management platform through which individuals and businesses are able to file tax returns online. The provision of Government services online to the citizens will drive demand for infrastructure across all Counties and put pressure on network providers to deliver quality and reliable infrastructure for effective service delivery. age of national fibre infrastructure and limited internet penetration, especially in the rural areas. A second challenge is the provision of last mile infrastructure connectivity, which if appropriately addressed can leap frog the country into a knowledge economy. Internet access in homes, schools, social centers and villages should be key drivers to ensuring a knowledge economy. The high cost of ICT (infrastructure, applications, end-user equipment, recurrent cost of internet, etc.) for businesses, households and individuals is also a challenge. Other challenges include limited sharing of communication infrastructure by infrastructure operators, inadequate and high cost power infrastructure and limited uptake of ICT in SMEs. This ICT Master Plan will address some of these key challenges preventing the country from transitioning into a knowledge economy. ‘The Government and parastatals are using online platforms to provide services to the citizens’ Figures 8 and 9 compares Kenya with two countries in the lower middle income (Ghana and Senegal), two countries in the upper middle income (South Africa and Brazil) and one country in high income (Portugal) on two indices that have a relevance for ICT infrastructure: • e-infrastructure index (or telecoms infrastructure index) – This is an arithmetic average composite of five indicators: estimated internet users per 100 inhabitants, number of main fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, number of mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants, number of fixed internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, and number of fixed broadband facilities per 100 inhabitants. This index can be taken as proxy for ICT infrastructure index. • Infrastructure and digital content - Measures five variables: mobile network coverage, international internet bandwidth, secure internet servers, and electricity production as well as the accessibility of digital content. Kenya faces a number of challenges in developing and providing infrastructure across the country. A key challenge is the limited cover- ..54 .................................................................................................................Towards ...............a...Digital .............Kenya ............ 55 Towards a Digital Kenya ..............................................................................................................................................................