As Kenya continues to improve its ITC regulations, President William Ruto's overall goal is to establish the country as a regional technology hub.

The Kenyan Communications Authority is stepping up its efforts to improve the ICT sector by soliciting public feedback on three important regulatory initiatives aimed at spurring growth in the sector.

The first is a review of the telecoms market structure, which aims to reconsider the current technology-neutral Unified Licensing Framework (ULF) for the telecommunications market structure, which has been in place for more than a decade.

The review will focus on addressing and removing some market entry and operating hurdles that have been found over time, providing greater clarity on the scope of the various licenses, and proposing new licensing areas that are consistent with current ICT sector policies.

The stakeholder perspectives are expected to strengthen the review process, in accordance with the Constitution's demand for public engagement in public policy making. Stakeholders have until January 23, 2025 to offer their opinions.

The call for review of policy comes as the Kenya government has increased its efforts to transform the East African economic powerhouse into an ICT innovation hub in order to realise the digital economy's full potential.

The country has implemented robust measures to ensure the growth of the digital economy.

These include the national ICT policy, the Kenya Start-Up Act, the Data Protection Act, the Digital Economy Blueprint, and the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.

Kenya is also planning the Konza Technopolis project, a massive technology hub that will be developed 64 kilometres south of Nairobi. The project is being marketed by the government as a key component of its Kenya Vision 2030 development strategy.

The Kenyan ICT Authority is currently also seeking feedback from stakeholders on the proposed updated minimum technical standards and requirements for second-generation Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T2) receivers.

Kenya adopted the DVB-T2 standard for terrestrial digital television broadcasting in advance of the digital migration, which commenced in 2015 to meet the international deadline for analogue switch-off.

During the same time period, the Authority issued minimum technical specifications for DVB-T2 Digital Set-Top Boxes and Integrated Digital Television in order to make digital receivers available locally for receiving digital terrestrial television transmissions.

"The proposed update will ensure that only those digital receivers that comply with the current technical standards will be approved for use in Kenya," the Authority states in the notice.

The DVB-T2 technical specifications and requirements are now being evaluated in order to include technological advancements that have subsequently been introduced in the terrestrial digital television broadcasting arena.

It is expected that if the upgraded standards are adopted, television viewers would be able to enjoy new features enabled by technology improvements on digital terrestrial platforms. The deadline for submitting comments is January 15, 2025.

And, having developed a Digital Sound Broadcasting (DSB) framework to guide the introduction of digital radio broadcasting services in Kenya, the Authority has developed corresponding licence templates for the DSB infrastructure and services in preparation for the DSB licensing framework's implementation in the fiscal year 2025/26.

The Authority is requesting stakeholder input on ten proposed licence categories under the DSB framework, with a deadline of January 17, 2025.

All the three consultation documents can be accessed on the Authority’s website at this link: here