The Kenya Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Society has urged the Communication Commission of Kenya to reduce the annual license fee for BPO businesses. The group wants the fee lower from 100,000 Kenyan shillings (US$1,516) to 10,000 shillings in order to attract more investors.

The prevailing high cost of bandwidth and insufficient marketing of the country as an outsourcing destination has hampered the industry's growth, said Gilda Odera, the society's chairperson.

"We will continue to lobby for more policy decisions, such as enactment of e-legislation and [a] data protection act, which are necessary for this industry to attract any serious outsourcing work," Odera told BPO Society members at the annual general meeting.

The high cost of bandwidth has been a constant challenge to the industry, and the society has continuously exerted pressure on the Kenya ICT Board to commence a subsidy program, Odera said. The ICT Board has made several promises, the latest one being that the Ministry of Finance has approved the release of funds for the subsidy, but the process is too slow, she said.

The bandwidth subsidy was provided by the World Bank through the ICT Board two years ago, but the money has yet to be released to the beneficiaries.

In terms of marketing the country as an outsourcing destination, the society has maintained the benefit of developing standards in the industry in order to provide the country with a value proposition.

"Once the standards guidelines are completed, all members will be required to sign and accept that they will adhere to these standards," said Odera. "There will be measures put in place for arbitration in case a member does not meet the required standards of operation in the industry."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.