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Kenya | Freedom House Kenya | Freedom House https://www.freedomonthenet.org/country/kenya/freedom-on-the-net/2019 The state of internet freedom remained relatively robust in Kenya, despite persistent concerns about the speed and quality of service and the political influence of advertisers on media coverage. The manipulation of the online information landscape was less prevalent than during the period surrounding the disputed 2017 presidential election. Kenya is a multiparty democracy that holds regular elections, but political rights and civil liberties are seriously undermined by pervasive corruption and brutality by security forces. The mobile service provider Safaricom suffered numerous outages during the coverage period, interrupting customers’ access to a range of services including data, voice, and mobile money (see A1). The Finance Act was signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in September 2018, increasing the tax on telephone and internet data from 10 percent to 15 percent, which raised concerns about the affordability of internet service (see A2). The hashtag #SwitchoffKPLC was used to raise awareness and mobilize citizens to protest the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), which owns and operates most of the electricity transmission and distribution systems in the country, over inflated customer bills. Online activists urged customers to submit their power bills to a Nairobi lawyer, who used them as evidence to file a petition against the company in court (see B8). In October 2018, a High Court judge ruled that many provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, which was passed in May and penalizes the publication of false information with up to 10 years in prison, would remain suspended until at least November. The provisions were still suspended as of the end of the coverage period (see C2). A 2018 report by Citizen Lab identified Kenya as one of 45 countries worldwide using Pegasus, a surveillance software developed by the Israeli technology firm NSO (see C5). Access to the internet continued to improve, particularly on mobile devices, but inadequate infrastructure development has limited the speed and quality of service. Numerous Safaricom outages occurred during the coverage period, interrupting users’ access to a range of services including data, voice, and mobile money. Affordability remains a concern. A1 0-6 pts 1 of 13 1/15/2020, 10:02 AM Kenya | Freedom House https://www.freedomonthenet.org/country/kenya/freedom-on-the-net/2019 Do infrastructural limitations restrict access to the internet or the speed and 46 quality of internet connections? Internet access is somewhat limited by poor infrastructure, but penetration rates and speeds continue to improve. According to government data published by the Communications Authority (CA), the broadband penetration rate increased to 44.9 percent in September 2018, up from 43.9 percent in June 2018.1 The regulator also reported nearly 45.5 million mobile phone subscriptions for a penetration rate of 100.1 percent as of September 2018, up from 90.4 percent the previous year.2 However, subscription statistics may not reflect actual usage. Many Kenyans have more than one mobile subscription, and the numbers reported by the CA include corporate registrations. The CA’s data also contrasts sharply with the latest figures from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which estimated Kenya’s internet penetration rate at 26 percent in 2016.3 Internet speeds have also improved in recent years. According to a report by Cable, a UK-based telecommunications company, Kenya had the second fastest internet speeds in Africa in 2018, behind only Madagascar, and ranked 64 in the world, with average download speeds of 10.1 Mbps.4 The National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) project aims to increase internet connectivity across the country and improve the delivery of e-government services.5 The Kenya Vision 2030 Medium Term Plan (2013-2017), the second phase in the implementation of the country’s development plan, considers information and communication technologies (ICT) a key element of national transformation.6 Focusing on devolution (decentralization) and building equity across the country, the government has prioritized the expansion of ICT capacity, with internet connectivity as a key pillar.7 Outages in Safaricom networks affected MPESA (a mobile money service) and internet connectivity with some regularity during the reporting period. The last reported outage occurred in December 2018, 8 and others occurred in November9 and July 2018.10 The July outage, which lasted several hours and affected voice and data service, was caused by a damaged fiber link.11 These outages affected over 31 million subscribers who rely on Safaricom’s voice, SMS, data, web hosting, and mobile money services. A2 0-3 pts Is access to the internet prohibitively expensive or beyond the reach of certain 13 segments of the population for geographical, social, or other reasons? Internet access has become prohibitively expensive for much of the population. In the Alliance for Affordable Internet’s Affordability Driver Index, Kenya dropped six spots in 2018, ranking 15 out of 29 countries surveyed.12 The Finance Act, which was signed by President Kenyatta in September 2018, increased the tax on telephone and internet data from 10 percent to 15 percent.13 In response to the tax, internet service providers (ISPs) raised prices for both data 2 of 13 1/15/2020, 10:02 AM Kenya | Freedom House https://www.freedomonthenet.org/country/kenya/freedom-on-the-net/2019 bundles and fixed home internet,14 making internet access unaffordable for many poorer Kenyans. The affordability and availability of the internet varies between urban and rural areas. A gender-based digital divide persists, with more male mobile and internet users than women.15 Many rural areas have not benefited from Kenya’s high-capacity bandwidth, in part due to market disparities and weaknesses in last mile connectivity, which is expensive and requires basic infrastructure such as electricity and roads that are often poorly developed. The Universal Service Fund (USF), which was established in 2013, aims to expand mobile and internet service in a bid to close the digital divide.16 A3 0-6 pts Does the government exercise technical or legal control over internet 66 infrastructure for the purposes of restricting connectivity? During the coverage period, there were no reports of the government using control over internet infrastructure to limit connectivity. Kenya’s decentralized internet infrastructure and nongovernmental control of the Kenya Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) make it unlikely that the government could exercise technical control over the internet. Kenya connects to the international internet via four main undersea cables —SEACOM, the East Africa Marine System (TEAMS), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY), and the Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION2); three others —Africa1, the Djibouti Africa Regional Express (DARE), and Liquid Sea—land in Mombasa.17 License provision for access to the international gateway was liberalized in 2004.18 The KIXP is operated by the Telecommunication Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK), a nonprofit organization representing the interests of ISPs. The KIXP keeps Kenyan internet traffic within the country, lowering the cost of connectivity. A second IXP was established in Mombasa, but its failure to attract enough users led to its closure in 2015.19 With support from the African Union, a backup IXP was established in 2016 to further lower the costs of connectivity for ISPs.20 A4 0-6 pts Are there legal, regulatory, or economic obstacles that restrict the diversity of 46 service providers? A number of economic obstacles restrict the diversity of service providers. There are five mobile service providers: Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom, Mobile Pay Limited, and Finserve Africa.21 The government has partial ownership of Safaricom (35 percent) and Telkom (40 percent).22 Safaricom dominates the market, with 63.3 percent of all mobile subscriptions and 69.5 percent of internet subscriptions. As such, there have been calls to declare Safaricom a dominant player, which would possibly force the company to separate its mobile money service in an effort to foster greater competition.23 However, amid fierce resistance from Safaricom and other powerful business interests, in January 2018 the regulator dropped plans to split the 3 of 13 1/15/2020, 10:02 AM Kenya | Freedom House https://www.freedomonthenet.org/country/kenya/freedom-on-the-net/2019 company.24 In July 2018, the Parliamentary Committee on Communication, Information, and Innovation opened an investigation into the mobile sector to identify legislative and regulatory gaps that may lead to anticompetitive behavior or restrict growth within the sector.25 The CA is the regulatory body that licenses all communications systems.26 As of April 2018, the regulator listed three providers with submarine cable landing rights and 57 network facilities providers (3 of which are national providers, while the remaining 54 are regional).27 These licensees provide, among other things, facilities for internet, voice, and mobile virtual operations. Cybercafés are licensed as business units by local governments, and there are no special regulatory or economic obstacles to their establishment. A5 0-4 pts Do national regulatory bodies that oversee service providers and digital 24 technology fail to operate in a free, fair, and independent manner? The regulatory
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