Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) Charles Njoroge and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications, Dr. Bitange Ndemo made various sideline comments during the opening of the HR4ICT11 conference that ended on Wednesday this week. The conference was organized by the Commonwelath Technology Organization and CCK. Commenting on number portability, Njoroge said that this was still on course for April 1, adding that all mobile operators and returned signed documents committing them to the date. Some operators were ready for this, though it appeared there had been some technical difficulties which saw initial tests planned for Friday 18 March been pushed to later this week. The Director General promised to give a proper status before the end of the week. We are awaiting updates on that.Njoroge downplayed the negative impact of number portability on operators saying that it would be beneficial to both operators and customers, saying that he believed each of the operators in the industry had a stake in the industry with each having their own niche.It has been reported that the CCK board is against the renewal of Njoroge’s contract buoyed by lobbying from certain mobile operators and various industry operators who see their businesses been impacted negatively by recent and planned changes in regulator directives. Commenting on this, the CCK Director said that the law was clear on the process, and as per the law he had applied for renewal of his contract in December 2010, 6 months before. “I have not seen anything yet on record (on the Boards decision on tenure renewal). My performance record is out for everyone to see, I do not need to drum on what I have done, the DG said. Commenting on the huge number of complaints against Internet service providers (ISPs), the director said that CCK needed to look at the sector and it would be the next frontier to focus at, previous focus having been on mobile operators. The DG says that some of the issues to be looked at include fiber to the home and making affordability and pricing a priority for major of the Kenyans. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, also said that the government was taking cyber crime seriously. Ndemo says that the government is currently consolidating its infrastructure consisting of various location dispersed servers to a data center. This would then be monitored a daily basis for security threats by the National Computer Emergency Response Team. The PS also gave progress on the rollout of a Private-Public Partnership nationwide LTE broadband network. This network will see the government overseeing the set up of a national 2.5 GHz LTE network from which licensed providers will lease channels on. Ndemo says that the ministry at the moment was in the process of sourcing funds from treasury to facilitate movement of some Government agencies who are currently utilizing the 2.5 GHz range. The government is yet to clearly confirm or deny circulating reports that the military was using the 2.5GHz range and needed equipment overhaul to a different frequency.