Analysis of the factors affecting information and communication technology development in Kenya: the case of network operators

Abstract

This study sought to analyse the factors that affect information and communication technology, lCT development in Kenya. Primary data was collected with the aid of semistructured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, proportions and mean. The results obtained are analyzed in this report. The study analysed the main factors that influence information and communication technology, lCT implementation in Kenya and ranked them as follows: Factor one was outlined as investment in ICT. This factor comprised attributes such as sources of finance, adequacy of capital and willingness of financial institutions to fund ICTprojects. This was followed by lCT infrastructure, which comprised variables such as fixed telephony, mobile telephony, IP service, VSAT and data communication; and other infrastructure which support lCT such as availability of power supply and transportation means. Factor three, knowledge and skills in ICT, comprised of requisite knowledge and skills in ICT, sufficiency of skills to satisfy client requirements and impact of skills on service delivery among others. Factor four, ICT policy, consisted of ICT policy facilitation, liberalization, effect of lCT policy and government efforts in implementation of lCT; while affordability of service came last as factor five. The two most important factors that affect lCT implementation in Kenya are investment in ICT and infrastructure; both scoring a mean of 4.667. Knowledge and skills in lCT (4.533) was next in terms of importance while policy and affordability ranked fourth and fifth with means of 4.333 and 4.133 respectively on a 5-point Likert scale. Further, though knowledge and skills in lCT is an important factor that influences IC'T implementation, it is not in short supply among lCT network operators in Kenya. With a mean of 3.6408 on a scale of 5, network operators said they possessed the knowledge and requisite skills to deploy lCT. -.