CA Participates in Webinar on Licensing Framework for Community Networks
On Thursday, January 23rd, 2025, the Authority participated in a webinar convened by Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), attended by 90 participants, to engage Community Networks and Small Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on the Community Networks and Service Provider License Category of the Authority’s Unified Licensing Framework.
The engagement, which took place under the umbrella of the Association of Community Networks (ACN), saw the players in the space discuss various issues of interest, including understanding key regulatory issues around the framework.
The Authority is collaborating with various organisations in supporting community networks and grassroots digital initiatives aimed at reaching underserved areas. This aligns with CA’s mandate of enhancing ICT access and bridging the digital divide.
‘‘Conversations such as this give us the opportunity to work well with government agencies,’’ said Mr. Barack Otieno, the ACN Chairman.
In 2021, the Authority developed a Framework for Community Networks in Kenya to enable community-based organisations and small social groups to mobilise themselves, establish communications infrastructure, maintain and operate their small scale and provide services to the local communities.
Under the Authority’s strategic objective to ‘Increase Broadband Coverage and Usage,' a key activity is to support the ‘Licensing of Community Networks, ’ which can be achieved through strengthening partnerships and stakeholder engagement.
The license largely targets not-for-profit community-based operators, which play a key role in enhancing digital literacy, enabling people to access government services and meaningfully use the Internet. Having responsive policies and regulations, innovative spectrum management approaches, gender inclusion, and the expansion of ICT access are integral to the Authority’s efforts to promote equitable availability, accessibility and usability of connectivity solutions nationwide.
Compared to other operators, community networks are telecommunications operators designed by communities to address specific community communication challenges, said Mr Otieno, who runs the AHERI community network in Kisumu County.
‘‘Community networks provide users with access to the Internet, are significantly grounded in user needs, helloing communities to build deeper knowledge on ICTs and assist in localising income,’’ said Mr. Otieno.
He added that community networks experience a number of challenges, ranging from the cost of equipment for infrastructure, operational costs, lack of adequate power, especially in areas not connected to the national grid, the cost of bandwidth, inappropriate network designs and weak communities of practice.
According to the Authority’s Mr. Dennis Sonoiya, Dr. Emma Otieno, and Mr. Fred Ongaro, who spoke during the webinar, the CNSP license is a unique licensing approach, combining infrastructure and service provision within one authorisation in light of the small-scale nature of the operations targeting a community of interest.
‘‘We realised that convergence has to be managed to address the unique burden of operators at the bottom of the ICT connectivity provision pyramid. This is the only licence category dedicated to non-profit entities to mobilize community skills and resources and establish meaningful connectivity at grass-roots levels. There is a unique opportunity to focus on the opportunities at hand to deepen connectivity,” they observed.
They challenged the operators to take advantage of the highly subsidised licensing framework to acquire their licenses and address other concerns around their operations, including cyber hygiene, child online protection, and holding each other to account.
‘‘Having licensed operators at all levels, including the grassroots, confers legitimacy to your operations, protecting your venture and stakeholders,’’ they added.
The community networks cited some of the challenges, including the prohibitive costs of setting up business in some Counties, urging the Authority to engage the Counties to address the challenges.
So far, the authority has licensed 10 Community Networks (CNs), while 2 others are undergoing due process. The Authority targets 20 licensed CNs by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.