In Kenya the World Bank is funding a "bandwidth subsidy" <http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5796&Itemid=5847>
(the article mistakenly says 114 million shillings, its actually $114 million ....so essentially the world bank is supporting BPOs in Kenya by partially paying for international bandwidth...until an undersea cable brings cheaper bandwidth in 2010....) Link to world bank page : <http://tinyurl.com/3j8qx8> "One Kenyan call-center entrepreneur told the World Bank Board of Directors the region simply cannot compete. "To put 25 agents on the phone, it will cost us close to US$17,000 a month. Elsewhere, it will only cost US$600-900 a month," said Nicholas Nesbitt, CEO of KenCall. "It is absolutely imperative that something be done right now to make bandwidth affordable. Otherwise, we're going to miss a huge opportunity and people are simply going to say that Africa is not ready for these kinds of jobs, is not ready for business." Does it make any practical sense for the world bank to fund such costs...? it didnt make much sense to me....
