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Foreigners will be barred from taking up technical installation and maintenance jobs in the communications sector, in a raft of proposed rules aimed at shielding jobs for locals.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), in its latest review of the sector market structure, has proposed this as part of a set of measures developed to guide licensing of telecommunications technical personnel.
“Only Kenyan citizens and holders of permanent residency visas shall be eligible to apply for telecommunications technical personnel licence,” reads the proposal.
“The authority will also consider applications that can sufficiently demonstrate knowledge and experience as guided by the country’s recognition of prior learning framework.”
In the revision of licencing procedures, the regulator has also proposed to eliminate the categorisation that splits permits for internal wiring and maintenance from those of external technical works, with the new framework seeking to merge them and issue a single licence.
In its argument, the CA says the original categorisation has since become obsolete, as it was adopted when most of the communication infrastructure was either copper wired or wireless which has since become outdated as most copper networks have nearly been replaced by optical fibre technologies.
“It is proposed that the authority absorbs these categories of technical personnel and issue them with a licence that allows them to carry out installation, support, and maintenance of IP networks being built by our licensees,” says CA.
Currently, the majority of the work carried out by technical personnel revolves around Local Area Network (LAN) — a network that interconnects computers within a single physical location — using devices whose manufacturers provide specialised training.
Technical personnel with Information Technology (IT) backgrounds and related fields are not currently provided for in the existing licensing structure. — The Nation.
CA notes that the lack of recognition in the licensing framework is a major hindrance and a barrier for technical personnel applicants considering that they have taken specialised and relevant training but cannot obtain permits from the regulatory body.
In this regard, the authority has proposed a licensing structure that will allow authorisation of the referenced professionals, including those in the field of electrical and electronics engineering, with degree holders put in licensing class A as diploma and certificate holders get assigned classes B and C licensing categories respectively.
The proposed regulatory fees will include a Sh500 application fee, Sh1 000 initial licence fees as well as another Sh500 annual operating fee with the licence term set to last 10 years.
Online Reporter