Business continuity planning (BCP) is a crucial factor when developing upgrades of services such as mobile money transfer. Stephen Kiptinness, Orange/Telkom Kenya head of regulatory affairs, stressed on subscribers, service continuity and quality as the most important constituents for a telco. He was speaking on BCP at the human resource for ICT 2011 conference (hr4ict2011) which was held on 21 - 23 of March 2011 at the Hilton, Nairobi.BCP should be updated, tested frequently and based on a continuous risk assessment. According to Kiptinness, takeover of a telecommunication firm or a merger may present a BCP risk for a Telco. The firm may have to assure its subscribers that it will maintain the same or higher level of service after the merger. Additional players in the market present an internal BCP risk to the Telco as it may mean reduced subscriber base or/and reduced tariffs.  Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis may knock down a telecoms infrastructure resulting lack of service and need to re-invest in affected areas.More BCP risks to Telcos include seamless interconnections of networks, vandalism and sabotage of infrastructure. In addition, change of management in a Telco makes employees jittery over their job security and may result in reduced productivity. There is need for employees to be assured. Even changes to key distributors and suppliers in a Telco have an impact, as these impacts on visibility and availability of the firm’s products and services.

Kiptinness gives other BCP risks for Telcos as department reorganisation, regulatory changes such as Universal Service Fund levy and reduction in interconnection rate, regulation of anti-competitive behaviour and dominance.
“All the said scenarios need to be analysed for threats, impact scenarios or analysis with appropriate legislative and relevant organisational responses,” Kiptinness says.
Several laws and regulations have been put in place to in response to BCP issues. These include the Kenya Communications Act 1998 which became the Kenya Communications Regulations 2001. “In addition, the Kenya Information and Communications act passed in 2009 assures Independence of CCK and includes broadcasting services and electronic transactions,” he adds. Kenya Information and Communications Regulations passed in 2009/2010 further gives guidance on broadcasting, dispute resolution, tariffs, compliance, fair competition, consumer protection, frequency spectrum, type approval , numbering, universal access , quality of service, electronic certification and interconnection.
Orange Kenya calls for best practices in the industry, including the consideration of vandalism as an economic crime with more severe penalties for those involved. The firm also calls for effective regulations on dominance and anti competitive behaviour. This will aim in providing a level playing ground for all Telcos as dominant Telcos may engage in practices that may indirectly harmful to smaller operators and difficult for them to replicate.
Other best practices include regulation of competition by general competition bodies, data protection & privacy laws and non restrictive regulation that enables operators to keep abreast with technology development.