Corporate News
ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi. PHOTO | FILE |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By REUTERS
In Summary
- Matiangi says government aimed to fund 50 innovators in the ICT sector every year to turn their ideas into start-ups as it seeks to turn the country into an ICT hub.
Kenya may offer tax incentives to firms in the
information communication technology (ICT) sector to encourage
investment and boost its contribution to economic growth, the minister
for information said.
Fred Matiangi said his ministry had put forward a proposal
to the finance ministry on measures to boost growth in the sector. He
said the measures include investment in additional infrastructure to
increase Internet access and lower services costs.
"The question we need to answer is, how do we speed
up growth in this sector?," Matiangi said on the sidelines of an ICT
conference in the coastal resort of Diani.
"We need to offer Internet access (even) to the
trader in the village," he said on Tuesday, adding that roaming charges
between several east African countries have been lowered to boost trade.
Internet usage in Kenya stood at 26.1 million of
the population last December, regulator Communications Authority of
Kenya said, or roughly 64 people per 100.
The government is laying 1,600 kilometres of
fibre-optic cable nationwide in the financial year ending in June. It
will add another 1,000 kilometres next financial year, Matiangi said.
He said the government aimed to fund 50 innovators
in the ICT sector every year to turn their ideas into start-ups, as it
seeks to turn the country into an ICT hub modelled on Silicon Valley.
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