The Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) has slashed regulatory fees charged for various services in the telecommunication and broadcasting industry in the country.
IT News Africa reported that the reduction was based on a presidential directive, and that to the Kenya’s Ministry of Communication, to reduce barriers and bring down communications and broadband prices.
CCK Acting Director General, Francis Wangusi was quoted as saying the new charges, which take effect from July 2012, were aimed at promoting penetration of telecommunication services in less developed parts of the country.
He said frequency fees for base transmitting stations (BTS) and equipment used to transmit signals has been reduced by a whopping 75%, and frequency fees for mobile wireless access has also been changed so that fees for the first 10,000 transmitters go down by 25%.
“The reduction will be increased to 50% for the next 30,000 transmitters and 75% for the remaining transmitters – frequency fees for this category have gone down by an average 41%.
“This review is expected to give an incentive to operators to expand their networks,” Wangusi was quoted as saying.
He said the move would also enable operators to deploy their services across the country and deepen use of information and communication technology services.
Wangusi however noted that the fees would be reviewed every three years to keep up with changing trends in the ICT sector.
Reports said telecom operators in that country have welcomed the news.
Meanwhile the commission has also introduced a new and simpler formula for broadcasting stations, which brings frequency fees down by 41%, and has also reduced licensing fees for public postal companies to $10,000 from $50,000.
Earlier this year, CCK posted a public notice abolishing all multiple levies and charges that local government agencies place on telecom operators, and insisted those charges ran counter to the national goal of economic growth.
But in Ghana the industry regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA) is rather getting tougher on operators, pulling back its assistance from operators who are unable to pay penalties and other charges.
The local government agencies pile loads of discriminatory levies and charges on telecom operators while the NCA either sits by or rather penalizing operators who default on quality of service (sometimes through no fault of theirs) with heavy fines.
The local government agencies in Ghana charge telecom operators up to about 800% more than what they charge other companies in the country for utility excavation permit (digging the ground to lay fibre and cables), property rate, and in some case they charge telecom for things that other companies pay nothing.
Telecom operators in Ghana have been complaining about the multiple charges and levies but those complaints are yet to be addressed; meanwhile operator revenues have been declining consistently for the past few years and that threatens the survival of the industry.