Kamiru - Adoption of Open Source Software by The Telecommunications Industry in Kenya

ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE BY THE
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN KENYA
ALEX NDERITU KAMIRU
A MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN

PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR
THE AWARD OF MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION (MBA) DEGREE, SCHOOL OF
BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
OCTOBER 2015
DECLARATION
This research project is my original work and has not been presented for award of any
degree in any University.
Signature……………………… Date……………………………
Name: Alex Nderitu Kamiru
Reg No.: D61/79111/2012
This project has been submitted for examination with my approval as University of
Nairobi supervisor.
Signature……………………… Date……………………………
Dr. Kate Litondo
Supervisor,
School of Business,
University of Nairobi.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I wish to also thank my supervisor Dr. Kate Litondo for her guidance throughout the
course of preparing for and conducting the research. I acknowledge her patience to
receive calls and constant text messages to ensure I was guided in the right direction.
I also with to thank my colleagues in technology who gracefully accepted to
participate in completing the questionnaire and for the invaluable information
provided by them. I am grateful for their cooperation during the period of my
research.
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DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my wife Judith, daughter Ivy and son Ian without whose
caring support it would not have been possible to complete it. The long hours spent
away from them in pursuit of academic excellence is highly appreciated.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION..........................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ........................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION............................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... x
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1
1.1Background of the Study .......................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 Open Source Software ...................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Telecommunications Industry in Kenya .......................................................... 3
1.2 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... 4
1.3 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................ 6
1.4 Importance of the Study ........................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 8
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8
2.2 The Concept of Open Source Software ................................................................... 8
2.3 Open Source Software Environment ..................................................................... 10
2.3.1 Open Source in Server Environments ............................................................. 10
2.3.2 Open Source in Desktop Environments .......................................................... 12
2.4 Challenges of Open Source Software Adoption .................................................... 12
2.5 Benefits of Open Source Software Implementations ............................................. 14
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2.6 Empirical Studies on Open Source Software ......................................................... 17
2.7 Open Source Software in Kenya ............................................................................ 18
2.8 Theoretical Foundation .......................................................................................... 19
2.8.1 Technology Acceptance Model in Relation to OSS Adoption ....................... 19
2.8.2 Technology-Organization-Environment Framework...................................... 21
2.9 Summary of Literature Review .............................................................................. 21
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................ 23
3.1 Research Design..................................................................................................... 23
3.2 The Population ....................................................................................................... 23
3.3 Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 23
3.4 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL RESULTS ......................................................... 25
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 25
4.2 Descriptive Statistics .............................................................................................. 25
4.2.1 Distribution of the Respondents...................................................................... 25
4.2.2 Demographic Characteristics .......................................................................... 27
4.3 Survey Results ....................................................................................................... 28
4.3.1 Adoption of Open Source Desktop Applications............................................ 31
4.3.2 Adoption of Open Source Server Applications .............................................. 34
4.3.3 Future Trends of Open Source Adoption. ....................................................... 37
4.4 Perceived Benefits of OSS ..................................................................................... 40
4.5 Challenges in Adoption of Open Source ............................................................... 42
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CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................... 45
5.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 45
5.1 Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................... 45
5.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 46
5.3 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 47
5.3.1 Research Limitations and Areas of Further Research..................................... 47
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 48
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................ 48
Appendix : Questionnaire ............................................................................................ 51
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Profile of the Respondents by Job Function ...............................................26
Table 4.2: Professional Distribution of Respondents ..................................................28
Table 4.3: Adoption of OSS by Department ................................................................29
Table 4.4: Chi-Square Tests on Departments and Decision on OSS Adoption ...........30
Table 4.5: Desktop Applications Adoption .................................................................31
Table 4.6: Chi-Square Tests on Organizational Structure and OSS Desktop Adoption
.....................................................................................................................32
Table 4.7: Combined Utilization of Various Open Source Server Applications .........34
Table 4.8: Chi-Square Tests on Department and OSS Server Adoption .....................36
Table 4.9: Chi-Square Tests on Organizational Structure and OSS Server Applications
Adoption ....................................................................................................37
Table 4.10: Plan to Increase OSS Applications Adoption ...........................................39
Table 4.11: Benefits of OSS Applications ...................................................................41
Table 4.12: Factors Inhibiting OSS Adoption .............................................................43
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 20
Figure 4.1: Distribution of Respondents by Company ................................................ 26
Figure 4.2: Distribution of Respondents by Gender and Age ...................................... 27
Figure 4.3: Application of Open Source Software....................................................... 29
Figure 4.4: Desktop Applications Adoption ................................................................ 31
Figure 4.5: Number of Desktop Applications and Systems Adoption by Company
Ownership .................................................................................................. 33
Figure 4.6: Server Applications Adoption ................................................................... 35
Figure 4.7: Adoption of Open Source Software in Future ........................................... 38
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
BSD - Berkley Software Distribution
CAK - Communications Authority of Kenya
CCK - Communications Commission of Kenya
COTS - Commodity off the shelf
DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DNS - Domain Name System
ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning
FSF - Free Software Foundation
FTP - File Transfer Protocol
GNU - GNU Not UNIX
ICT - Information and Communications Technology
IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol
IP - Internet Protocol
LTE - Long Term Evolution
MVNO - Mobile Virtual Network Operator
NFV - Network Function Virtualization
OSS - Open Source Software
OTT - Over the Top Players
POP3 - Post Office Protocol
SDN - Software Defined Network
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SQL - Structured Query Language
VoIP - Voice over IP
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ABSTRACT
Open source software is software that is freely available and whose source code is
available and can be modified by users to meet specific requirements. As the
telecommunications industry look to be more innovative and seek to continue to be
profitable, there is need to consider open source software to run some of their
application requirements. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adoption of
open source software in the telecommunications industry in Kenya, establish the
benefits that have been realized through adoption of OSS, determine the challenges
faced by the adoption of OSS as well as establish if telecommunication companies
plan to begin the use of open source in the future. The study was done in the four
telecommunications service providers in Kenya namely Safaricom, Airtel Kenya,
Orange Telkom and Equitel. The conclusion of the study is that there is significant
adoption of open source software by telecommunication companies in Kenya with
leading benefits of adoption being cost efficiency, increased software flexibility and
avoiding vendor lock-in. The above benefits notwithstanding, there are challenges that
are associated with the adoption as well and this include lack of proper software
support, switching costs from proprietary software and quality of open source
software which cannot be relied upon to run mission critical telecommunication
services. However, with the rapidly evolving technology and changing consumer
patterns that necessitates technological advancements and innovations, open source
therefore offers a solution for the companies in the telecommunications industry to
adapt and manage their costs so that they can remain relevant in the competitive
environment they now operate in.
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Technology and specifically Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in
the enterprise has moved from being considered a support function to being used as a
strategic tool for competitive advantage (Kovacheva, 2008). Investment in ICT has
therefore to be aligned to the corporate strategic objectives. For majority of
organizations especially in the telecommunications industry, cost management is a
major strategic objective mainly driven by reduced average revenue per user (ARPU)
as consumers spend less than ever before on their communication needs. Emergence
of over the top (OTT) providers in the competitive communications space has also
made the need to ensure telecommunication organization contain their network capital
expenditure and operating costs for both hardware and software (Friedrich, Bartlett,
Gröne, & Mialaret, 2013).
For this reason, open source software becomes an attractive option for the players in
the telecommunication industry. This is mainly driven by their often reduced cost of
ownership compared to proprietary software. The major cost associated with OSS is
mainly in the support and maintenance of the application as well as training of staff,
this compared to proprietary software that has licensing costs which is usually the
significant cost in the total cost of ownership of applications (Almeida, 2009).
1.1.1 Open Source Software
Open Source Software (OSS) refers to software systems that are free to use and whose
source code is fully accessible to anyone who is interested (Kumiyo,Yasuhiro,
Yoshiyuki, Kouichi, & Yunwen, 2002). This is in contrast to proprietary software
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which is very limited in access to the source code if at all possible and licensing
restricts this access. By the nature of the software being free, open source creates an
interest in users who face similar problems the applications are structured to solve and
thus creating a developer community around it leading to improvement and extending
the initial system. A good number of open source software are believed to be in use
today across many computing needs such as Linux for operating systems, Mozilla for
web browsers, Apache for web servers, Open Office for office applications and
MySQL for databases just to name a few. With this fast adoption of OSS, there is
growing interest in the use of the applications across many industries,
telecommunications being no exception, as it’s believed their adoption will reduce the
cost associated with the often closed proprietary software.
Various benefits are expected with the adoption of open source software ranging from
reduced cost of software, increase flexibility due to the ability to modify source code
as the user would wish, independence from vendors of proprietary software, open
innovation as a result of use of software developed by a community as well as
increased security since software bugs are discovered and fixed by a large pool of
users (Mohammad, Li, Guang, & Varun, 2005). There are however challenges too
that are faced by users of open source software. These challenges range from lack of
proper ownership of the software which also leads to fragmentation of the software
(Liu, 2007), lack of proper support structure for the software (Hasan, 2009) and
licensing models which can be challenging for organization to understand (Kieseppa,
2002).
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1.1.2 Telecommunications Industry in Kenya
Since introduction of telecommunications services in Kenya until the collapse of the
East African community in 1977, telecommunication services were managed as part
of the regional network run by the then East African Post and Telecommunications
Corporation of Kenya together with neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania. This ended
after the dis-integration of the regional East African block and Kenya Post and
Telecommunications Commission (KPT&C) was established through an act of
parliament (Kenya Post and Telecommunications Act, CAP 411, 1998) and was
mandated to manage telecommunications, postal and regulatory functions in Kenya.
KPT&C was later disbanded in 1999 and split into three companies with distinct
functions. The companies were Telkom Kenya to provide telecommunications
services, Postal Corporation of Kenya to provide postal services and Communications
Commission of Kenya (CCK) to provide regulatory services. Communications
Authority of Kenya, CA, was established to replace CCK in 2013 as the regulatory
authority for telecommunications services in Kenya through an act of parliament (The
Kenya Information and Communications Amendment Bill, 2013) following the
promulgation of the new constitution.
Telecommunications services in Kenya were liberalized at the beginning of twenty
first century with the establishment of three major players in the industry. These were
Kencell Limited (which later changed hands to Celtel, Zain and now Airtel Kenya
Limited), Safaricom Limited and Telkom Kenya which later changed to Orange
Telkom after France Telkom become a majority shareholder in the company. Essar
Kenya which traded with the brand name YU, was established years later but due to
cut throat competition in the industry, ceased operations in 2014.
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Service offered by these players range from mobile services for both voice and data
on 2G and 3G, fixed line services on Voice over IP (VoIP) and E1 services as well as
other enterprise related services. Safaricom limited has also launched 4G services in
limited part of the country based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Another
major service offered by all the three telecommunications companies is money
transfer services under the M-Pesa brand for Safaricom, Airtel Money for Airtel and
Orange Money for Orange Kenya. Competition in the industry has been stiff in the
last few years leading to reduced calling and data rate to some of the lowest on the
continent. The last few years have also seen the introduction of mobile virtual
networks (MVNO) in the local telecommunication competitive space with Equitel, a
subsidiary of Equity bank being the most notable one. According to Communication
Authority quarter two report of 2015, MVNOs have close to four hundred thousand
users (Matinde, 2015) which is significant taking into consideration that they have
been in operation for just over a year.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Proprietary software is still widely used in the telecommunications industry compared
to OSS. Major vendors of telecommunications solutions namely Huawei, Ericsson,
Nokia and Cisco still have reign on software applications that run the value added
services, voice and data services (Howard, 2013). It would be expected that with the
severe competition and commoditization where the current Telco business model and
services like voice and broadband are losing value causing a significant drop in
average revenue per user (Birudavolu & Nag, 2011), new business models based on
open innovation which are expected to have lower total cost of ownership would be
adopted significantly to aid telecommunications companies survive through this
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turbulent times. The delay to adopt OSS can be attributed to large investments made
on proprietary software and perception over open source risks (Almeida, 2009). New
services for telecommunications services are also expected to lead the adoption of
OSS namely unified communications services, VoIP solutions and IP Multimedia
Services for converged fixed and mobile solutions.
While previous studies especially in Kenya have been done on adoption of open
source software in the various industries such as banks (Githaiga, 2012) who found
out that 97% of banks had adopted open source software for some desktop services
and 67% for some server applications. Research of OSS use in cybercafés (Kamau,
2011) found out that 87% use some form of OSS software, there is however limited
use of OSS in government (King'oina, 2012) with a paltly 5% of government
institutions using some form of open source software. Other OSS research include
hospitals in the states of Baltimore, Washington and Northen Virginia in the United
States where 27% had adopted OSS for general purpose application such as databases,
operating systems and web development tools (Cornejo, Seaman, & Koru, 2007)
The area of open source adoption in telecommunication companies in Kenya has not
been explored and thus there is a gap in this area. With these limitation, there is more
research work needed to understand the extent of OSS adoption in local
telecommunications companies. This gap leads to the research question: What is the
extent of OSS adoption in telecommunications companies in Kenya, benefits realized
as wells as challenges faced with the adoption of open source applications.
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1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study was to evaluate the of adoption of open source
software in the telecommunications industry in Kenya and specifically to;
i. Determine the adoption of open source software in the Kenyan
telecommunications industry.
ii. Establish the benefits that have been realized through adoption of OSS.
iii. Determine the challenges faced by the adoption of OSS by the
telecommunications companies.
iv. Establish if telecommunication companies plan to begin the use of open
source in the future.
1.4 Importance of the Study
The findings of the study will be of great value to the management of
telecommunications companies in Kenya and beyond. This is mainly attributed by the
fact that the telecommunication industry is facing turbulent times with reduced
revenues as over the top players become more aggressive with their products creating
a disruption in the hitherto profitable industry. By evaluating open source software as
well as the challenges faced by its adoption and benefits that are likely to accrue,
industry leaders will be well informed if to adopt open source application or stick to
proprietary solutions for their operations.
The study will also be of importance to developers of open source software such as
the Linux community. The developer industry will be informed on the need to have
software that is mature and ready to run this critical industry across the globe. Being a
critical communication industry, telecommunications is sensitive to quality of services
6
and it’s therefore important that any applications that are chosen to provide any form
of service does not compromise this. Lastly, the study is valuable to academic
researchers as it will act as future reference particularly for open source software and
the telecommunications industry in Kenya. This research will provide a base through
which further research on the area can be done in future.
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1Introduction
This chapter reviews the information and communication technology in desktop and
server environment focussing mainly on open source software in use for management
of the telecommunications companies. It also highlights the benefits and challenges of
OSS use in the companies.
2.2 The Concept of Open Source Software
Open source software has been mainly driven by developer of applications who
believe that software should be free. The history of collaborative software
development which is at the core of open source can be divided into three phases or
era, the first phase took place between early 1960s to early 1980s. This was the period
that is of great important to the modern OSS software in use today. Use of open
source then was majorly limited to academic and research institutions (Kieseppa,
2002).
The second period of open source software development lasted from early 1980s to
1990s. During this period ground rules for collaborative development were
established, for instance Richard Stallman who was working for Massachusetts
Institute of Technology as a programmer was dissatisfied to sell as proprietary
software that he had developed together with employees of the client companies. This
dissatisfaction led him to believe that selling software under ordinary licensing model
was not ethical which led to his belief as follows;
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“The idea that the proprietary software social system – the system that says you are
not allowed to share or change software – is antisocial, that it is unethical, that it is
simply wrong, may come as a surprise to some readers. But what else could we say
about a system based on dividing the public and keeping users helpless?” (Kieseppa,
2002)
Through this belief, the GNU project which resembled UNIX (hence the term GNU
not UNIX) was started in 1984 by Stallman. This project is usually seen as the first
open source application that led to the emergence of the open source software
movement. Licensing for GNU was under the General Public License (GPL) which is
given by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), an organization created by the GNU
project. Under GPL terms, any applications created using software that is GPL
licensed would still remain so and this therefore meant copyright still remained with
FSF.
The third phase of OSS development begun from the 1990s to date. During this phase
there has been dramatic development of open source software. There is almost an
alternative solution in open source for any proprietary software that is in use today.
New open source licensing models have also emerged such as Apache License, BSD
License as an alternative to the GNU license which was often viewed as ideological
rather than pragmatic. In this third phase of development, OSS has become
mainstream running enterprise applications as well as significant Internet
infrastructure. Operating systems such as Linux is now used in major corporations
around the world to run mission critical applications such as ERP and Database
systems, while majority of Internet web servers run on Apache webservers and BIND
9
DNS servers. This explosion in the use of open source software led to Microsoft
terming Linux as a major competitive threat in a leaked internal memorandum in 1999
(Nuvolari)
2.3 Open Source Software Environment
Open source software is in use across various industries for both desktop and server
environments (Kusnetzky & Gillen, 2004). The emergence of Linux as a popular
operating systems has specifically lead to this use. Other software applications both at
server and desktop environments have gained popularity as a result of Linux adoption
(Nathaniel, 1999).
2.3.1 Open Source in Server Environments
Server applications are backend software that clients in a networked environment
request for various services such as web, email, domain name service etc. The impact
of open source software has majorly been felt for server application especially for
network infrastructure services such as DHCP, DNS and FTP service. Other major
services include file servers, firewalls, domain controllers and network management
servers. The Internet which is also built in a server-client model has also seen
significant impact through OSS. According to Netcaract, a web statistics company
Apache and Nginx which are open source web server hold over 66% of web servers
serving content on the Internet as at September 2014 (Netcaract, 2014). This is
significant and shows the impact these two web server applications on the Internet.
BIND, a DNS software also is believed to control a sizable number of domain names
as well (Theunissen, Boake, & Kourie, 2004) and DNS resolution servers.
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Email service is also an important part of any modern organization. A variety of OSS
solution are available today to play different function for a complete functional email
system. For SMTP service, OSS applications such as sendmail, qmail, exim and the
most popular being postfix are widely used today. IMAP and POP3 solutions are also
available as OSS with solutions from vPOPMail and Cyrus playing their role for this
functions. Database applications have also been significantly impacted by the OSS
evolutions. Popular database applications such as PostgresSQL and MariaDB are
widely used today for enterprise solutions. So advanced are these database application
that Oracle, a major vendor of proprietary databases acquired MySQL, another
popular open source database in 2009 raising a series of substantial competitive
concerns (Vezzoso, 2011)
In the case of business supporting software there are solutions that are open source as
well that are used for ERP, CRM and billing systems with applications such as Sugar
CRM being popular with enterprises. There is indeed no part of server applications
that open source software is lacking. Voice and data networks are also converging and
through this there is also emergence of open source applications such as Asterisks and
SipX that are playing a significant role for these services. This convergence heralds a
new era where telecommunications companies must explore the need to adopt OSS
otherwise new competitors are likely to emerge who’s cost of operation is expected to
be much lower hence able to charge much less for the same level and quality of
services.
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2.3.2 Open Source in Desktop Environments
The use of Open Source in desktop environment has also continued to grow despite
proprietary software such as Window operation systems and office suites having a
large user base compared to OSS. Uptake of Linux for example for desktop use has
been to less than 20% of total user base (Vile & Atherton, 2009). According to
(Dalvit, Terzoli, & Wolff, 2008) companies such as Canonical have started to even
localize popular desktop application such as Ubuntu for use in countries such as South
Africa showing growing interest in Open Source for desktop use. Other application
however such as web browsers have seen a much higher uptake in the desktop
environment. Firefox for instance is widely used by all type of computer users ranging
from technical savvy to novice users. Other application that have seen good uptake
include office applications such as open office and libre office which are an
alternative to the Microsoft office suite.
2.4 Challenges of Open Source Software Adoption
For technical manager in the telecommunication industry, quality of service is a major
pain area. Whichever solution that they deploy on their network, critical qualities such
as scalability, availability and support are factors that they must consider. It is
therefore important as they consider OSS for some of their needs to consider potential
challenges that is associated with OSS. One of the potential challenges of OSS
adoption is fragmentation of the OSS software usually as a result of conflict among
developers, poor or lack of documentation, features creep and lack of friendly user
interfaces (Liu, 2007). With this level of fragmentation, telecommunications
companies will find it challenging to run their mission critical services on fragmented
solutions.
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Another major area of concern for telecommunication managers is support of the OSS
applications. For proprietary software, one pays high fees to use the software as only
the vendor of the applications has exclusive rights to the source code and can
therefore be the only one to support it (Hasan, 2009). By paying the high support fees,
vendors of the solution can therefore afford to have priority support extended to the
telecommunication company. Some vendors of proprietary applications even afford to
have on-site support who are exclusively available to the customer throughout the
day.
However, for OSS, support in most cases would be charged at a small fee by
companies that specialize on integrating the applications. Most of these companies
lack the required level of support to be available on demand across the globe making
it a challenge for telecommunication companies to rely on this level of support.
Closely tied to support is lack of proper documentation for open source applications.
This is attributed to the fragmented OSS software development discussed earlier.
There is also unclear liability and responsibility for OSS software. Most of these
applications are downloaded from the Internet without clear ownership and
responsibility. Telecommunications companies fear ending up in situations with
unclear liability where they will be unable to influence the provider of the
applications where they would end up without clear support (Øyvind, Daniela, Reidar,
Ketil, & Tron André).
Hidden costs is another area of challenge for those adoption OSS. It takes time to
evaluate the software to find the right mix of solutions. Other costs that are usually
hidden is the extensive user training and customization that may be done to ensure the
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applications are delivering the required functionality. Some organizations that have
adopted OSS have had to spend money on developer communities as sponsorships
which was not a cost they had initially budget for. Licensing models are also very
challenging for most organizations adoption OSS. A variety of licenses are available
and guidance is required on how to interpret them. When required to integrated OSS
and proprietary software there arises challenges on limitation of whichever licenses
that guide both environments.
Lastly, lack of products is another challenge facing organizations that adopt OSS.
While there may be a variety of OSS available for majority of business needs there
still lacks OSS for specific requirements (Øyvind, Daniela, Reidar, Ketil, & Tron
André) that businesses may require at that point in time leading to proprietary
software which can be custom made based on customer requirements to fulfil the
need.
2.5 Benefits of Open Source Software Implementations
Organizations around the world are saving millions of dollars through adoption of
OSS and most of this were large companies with turnover of USD 50 million and
above (Stephen, Dave, & Bruno, 2005). The use of open source software to save cost
has generated great interest to a level where finance and other business executives are
starting to ask how open source can help them reduce the burgeoning IT costs and
gain clout over vendors of proprietary software. Cost reduction has been cited as
among the major reason for adoption of OSS by organizations (Øyvind, Daniela,
Reidar, Ketil, & Tron André). Advocates of OSS also claim that due to lack of
licensing fees with OSS, then the total cost of ownership is reduced or eliminated
14
altogether. There however remains other associated cost due to adoption of OSS such
as training of staff and any customization that may be required and this needs to be
factored in before a conclusive position can be made. (Mohammad, Li, Guang, &
Varun, 2005)
Open source software by its nature also means that the users of the applications have
access to the source code. This brings great flexibility to the software as users can
modify the applications to suit their needs. OSS also advocates for modularity which
means a portion of the program can be designed, developed and tested relatively
independent of the rest of the applications (Mohammad, Li, Guang, & Varun, 2005).
This brings the much needed flexibility in the approach to applications use.
Modularity also promises shorter development cycles and thus more robust products
expected with OSS. Modularity also ensures that different developer communities can
work on independent part of the larger applications which ensures that the time to
deliver an open source project can be shortened significantly. The
telecommunications industry around the world is also dominated for a few big players
(Howard, 2013). Without open source, this is unlikely to change and
telecommunications companies will be stuck with proprietary hardware and software
which is locked and therefore expensive to buy and maintain.
According to Jim Zemlin, an executive director at the Linux foundation, open source
has been proven to accelerate innovation (Linux-foundation, 2014). With OpNFV,
service providers are expected to licenses through open source Apache license which
will ensure that there will be no vendor lock-in and any contribution made to
applications will be available to the community. Other projects driving independence
from vendor locking include Open Daylight which is quickly becoming a de facto
15
software defined networking platform based on open source, OpenStack which is a
cloud platform driving adoption of network function virtualization in the
telecommunications industry and Open Switch which is an open source switching
application (Linux-foundation, 2014)
OSS adoption also leads to open innovation which means that companies should make
greater use of external ideas and technologies in their own businesses while letting
their unused ideas be used by other companies (Birudavolu & Nag, 2011). Open
innovation leads to faster time to market, cheaper cost of developing new services and
reducing the risk involved in new business models. Telecommunication industry
being service oriented greatly benefits from open innovation where services can be
moved online and onto the cloud with more integration to device, mobility and
business intelligence. Also, as products and services gets commoditized and become
utility, there will be less and less competitive advantage tied to product
differentiations. This reinforces the need to develop a culture of open innovation.
With open innovation, there is need to move away from linear thinking to more
exponential possibilities which can only happen in an open innovative culture.
Product and services will also greatly benefit from a push approach where companies
imagine they understand customer needs and hence proceed to manufacture what they
believe is best for their customers to a pull approach where there is deeper
understanding with the customers (Birudavolu & Nag, 2011)
Open source software is also believed against common misconception to be more
secure than proprietary software as users of this software do not have to wait for the
vendor of the applications to patch once vulnerability have been discovered. Users
also have access to the source code and can therefore modify it at will. Once
16
vulnerabilities are discovered, they are communicated to the community and fixed in
much shorter cycles than it would be the case with proprietary software (Mohammad,
Li, Guang, & Varun, 2005). Having the software as open source also means that there
is continuous and broad review of the source code by a larger community of users.
This increases the chance of identification and elimination of software bugs that could
have otherwise taken longer to be discovered. Organizations store a lot of information
about their business. This could range from information about their customers,
financial data, network statistics etc. In most of these cases, the information is usually
sensitive and private and it’s therefore critical to store it in formats that will be
accessible in years to come. Open standards adopted by open source applications
therefore ensures that these type of data will remain independent of any private
interest which is very likely in the case of proprietary software. If a company was to
adopt proprietary formats for such data, there is likelihood of vendors of such
applications to take advantage of this and lock-in the companies that have purchased
this kind of proprietary applications. Open source developers have often favored open
standards because they ensure interoperability (Hwang, 2005) which is at the core of
open source movement.
2.6 Empirical Studies on Open Source Software
In studying adoption of open source adoption, other researchers have done studies in
in other countries where there has also been use of open source for various industries
with telecommunications companies adopting open source for emerging services such
as Cloud (Linux-foundation, 2014) with operators such as Telefonica deploying
Openstack for customer focused cloud services (Clarke, 2015). Other industries that
have adopted OSS include hospitals in the states of Maryland, Washington and
17
Northen Virginia in the United States where 27% had adopted OSS for general
purpose application such as databases, operating systems and web development tools
(Cornejo, Seaman, & Koru, 2007). Diomidis & Vaggelis (2009) investigated the use
of open source in large US companies and found out that at least 94% of companies
were using at least one open source software mainly related to web servers.
Locally, 97% of banks had adopted open source software for some desktop services
and 67% for some server applications such as web servers only 8% used open source
software exclusively (Githaiga, 2012). Research of OSS use in cybercafés (Kamau,
2011) found out that 87% use some form of OSS software but maily limited to
desktop applications for web browsers. There is limited use of OSS in government
(King'oina, 2012) with a paltly 5% of government instituitons using some form of
open source software.
2.7 Open Source Software in Kenya
Open source software provides developing economies such as Kenya the opportunity
to fast track the development of the growing ICT industry. The discussed advantages
of OSS such as lower cost of ownership, increase software flexibility, open
innovations and independence from software vendors can be of great value to
industries that harness the power of technology to leverage on OSS to grow their
companies.
In Kenya, open source use is growing. Many companies especially small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) have adopted OSS in order to manage their costs in this era of
reduced IT budgets and increase costs (Sunday, 2012). Adoption of OSS in Kenya is
18
also seen as a solution to the rampart software piracy in the country. Additionally,
adoption of OSS in Kenya is shown by the establishment of community solutions that
have specialized in deployment of open source software to support endeavors such as
humanitarian solutions in Kenya and beyond. A popular example is Ushahidi Inc
which develops non for profit software an example being Ushahidi which was
deployed to monitory the 2007 general elections in Kenya to enable citizens, civil
society, election observers and law enforcement agencies to monitor incidence in real
time and take actions when necessary. The application was later used for similar
functions in Haiti and Chile during the earthquake in 2010 (Giridharadas, 2010). This
underscores the impact of open source even with origin from developing nations like
Kenya.
2.8 Theoretical Foundation
There are several theories that have been established in relation to technology
adoption. Two major ones that will be useful for this research are Technology
Acceptance Model and Technology-Organization-Environment Framework which are
discussed in greater detail below.
2.8.1Technology Acceptance Model in Relation to OSS Adoption
Technology Acceptance Model was developed to address system usage by facilitating
understanding of factors and reasons that determine the use and adoption of new
systems. It examines the mediating role of perceived ease of use and perceived
usefulness in their relationship between systems characteristics and the probability of
systems use (Legrisa, Ingham, & Collerette, 2001). Technology Acceptance Model
has strong behavioral characteristics which assume that when someone has intention
19
to act, they will be free to do so without limitation but in practice constrains such as
limited ability, time, environmental or organizational limits as well as unconscious
habits will limit the freedom to act (Venkatesh, 2003).
The major objective of this study is to determine why the telecommunications
industry in Kenya despite all the benefits related to the use of open source software
are believed to be slow to adopt open source software for their operations despite the
maturity of some open source applications that have been extensively deployed to
build core Internet infrastructure and run research organization for a good number of
years. Perceived usefulness will be outlined through benefits that accrue as a result of
the use of open source discuss earlier such as cost efficiency, increase flexibility,
independence from vendors, open innovation and future interoperability. Perceived
ease of use shall be reflected by familiarity of users of the applications to open source
technologies, availability of software support by the open source community as well
as companies that have specialized in supporting open source and ability to modify
the source code to meet the desired business need. The theory of Technology
Acceptance Model is illustrated by the figure below
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework
Source: http://istheory.byu.edu/w/images/9/90/Tam.JPG
20
2.8.2 Technology-Organization-Environment Framework
This framework studies adoption of technology innovation at organizational level and
provides the process by which firms adopt and implement technological innovations
which according to this theory is influenced by technological context, the
organizational context and the environmental context. Technological context refers to
technologies that are relevant to firms, organizational context generally refers to
organizational characteristics such as size, scope and resources available within a firm
while environmental context involves the macro-environment in which a firm
conducts its business, including industry, competitors, and the regulatory environment
(Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990).
2.9 Summary of Literature Review
With increase competition in the telecommunications industry mainly driven by the
rise of over the top services (OTT) as well as the entry of new players through mobile
virtual network operators’ licensing, incumbent telecommunications companies are
force to relook at their operating models. There is urgent need to reduce operating
costs as well as capital expenditure on network services. With software requirements
mainly for proprietary applications driven by the main providers of
telecommunication solutions accounting for a large part of that budget, open source
then becomes an attractive option to contain costs.
In addition to the benefits associated with cost savings, there are other benefits such
as independence from vendors, open innovation, increase flexibility, and future
operability that make it attractive for telecommunication companies to adopt open
source despite challenges that may be associated with adoption of these applications
21
such as fragmentation of the applications, lack of clear ownership and responsibility
as well as unclear support for the applications.
There is little study known to the researcher that focuses on open source adoption
specifically for telecommunication companies in Kenya. Previous studies have
focused on banks, government and cyber cafes. This presents a gap in the existing
knowledge that this study will seek to fulfil.
22
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
This study involved a descriptive research to gather information on the extent of open
source software adoption by Kenyan telecommunications companies as little data is
known to exist on this topic. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the month
of September 2015 to collect the data. The survey entailed investigation on the extent
of functions that have been deployed with open source software for desktop and
server environments in the industry. Benefits that have been realized as well as
challenges that have been faced by adoption of OSS by the telecommunications
companies were also be investigated.
3.2 The Population
The population of this study constituted technical departments of the four mobile
service providers in Kenya. This were Safaricom, Airtel, Equitel and Orange Kenya.
3.3 Data Collection
The survey made use of a questionnaire that had both open and closed ended
questions sent to 50 respondents across various departments with 30 for Safaricom, 10
for Airtel and 6 for Orange Kenya and 4 for Equitel based on the latest market share
(CAK, 2015). The survey was limited to technical staff and managers within these
three operators as they are responsible for selection of software to deploy in their
networks with bias to the technical features such as open source or proprietary. Likert
scale was also used for some of the questions where appropriate. The questionnaire
had the following four sections. Section A collected demographic data which
23
identified the age, gender and level of education of the respondents and size of
organization and departments they worked for. Section B collected information on the
extent of Open Source adoption within the organization and any future plans for use
of open source. Section C identified the benefits of adoption of Open Source by the
organization. Section D covered the challenges faced as a result of adoption of Open
Source applications. Google forms which is a free online survey tool was exclusively
used as the mode of data collection.
3.4 Data Analysis
Data that was collected was validated, edited and coded accordingly then summarized
using the following. Section A was analyzed using frequencies and percentages and
classified using charts and graphs. Section B, C and D was analyzed using frequencies
and means and represented using tables. Tools used in analysis were Microsoft Excel
and SPSS.
24
CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL RESULTS
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, findings of the study are discussed; descriptive statistics and detailed
descriptions about the survey participants and organizations are provided. A summary
of findings is reported which discusses the findings in relation to the research
objectives and the implications for OSS adoption in the telecommunications industry
in Kenya.
4.2 Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics are used to summarized data in way that is useful to the intended
users. Various measures of data such as frequency, means and percentages will be
used to summarize the findings in the following sections.
4.2.1 Distribution of the Respondents
The total number of respondents from the four telecommunications companies who
completed the survey was 41 indicating a response rate of 82%. The following table
presents the demographic characteristics of the respondents.
25
Figure 4.1: Distribution of Respondents by Company
Majority of the respondents (31.7%) were System Engineers, 14.6% Network
Engineers and an equal number of Network Managers and Security Engineers at
12.2%.
Table 4.1: Profile of the Respondents by Job Function
Occupation No. of respondents Percentage
Network Engineer 6 14.6
Security Engineer 5 12.2
Software Developer 1 2.4
Strategy & Architecture Engineer 1 2.4
Strategy Engineer 1 2.4
Support Engineer 1 2.4
Systems Analyst 3 7.3
Systems Engineer 13 31.7
Technical Manager, Network Systems 5 12.2
Technical Manager, Support Services 4 9.8
Technical, Head of Department 1 2.4
26
4.2.2 Demographic Characteristics
The distribution of the sampled respondents by age and gender is presented in Figure
4.2. Out of the total sample, 95.1% were male and 4.9% female.
Figure 4.2: Distribution of Respondents by Gender and Age
The results also show that the largest single proportion of the sampled population
based on age structure were between thirty and thirty-five years (58.5%) followed by
those between twenty-five and thirty years of age (24.4%).
With regard to the years of experience, the respondents had a range of 1 to 8 years of
experience in various positions in the companies (Table 4.2). All of the respondents
were engaged in various technical domains and thus assumed to be knowledgeable of
OSS software’s capabilities and utilization.
27
Table 4.2: Professional Distribution of Respondents
Occupation No. of respondents Average years of
experience
Network Engineer 6 2.17
Security Engineer 5 3.4
Software Developer 1 3
Strategy and Architecture engineer 1 7
Strategy Engineer 1 3
Support Engineer 1 5
Systems Analyst 3 4.67
Systems Engineer 13 3.88
Technical Manager, Network 5 3.6
Systems
Technical Manager, Support 4 7.5
Services
Technical, Head of Department 1 8
4.3 Survey Results
The results indicate that 100% (n=41) of the companies within the survey sample
have adopted OSS. All of the companies have adopted both desktop applications and
server OSS (Figure 4.3). Of the total number of respondents interviewed, 68.3% use
open source in both servers and desktop applications and only 24.4% and 7.3% use
only servers and desktop applications respectively.
28
Figure 4.3: Application of Open Source Software
Table 4.3: Adoption of OSS by Department
Department Both servers Proportion Desktop Proportion Server Proportion

and desktop of total applications of total applications of total
applications % %
Count % Count % % Count %
Engineering 6 75.0 21.4 0 0 2 25.0 19.5
Enterprise 1 25.0 3.6 1 25.0 33.3 2 50.0 9.8
services
IT services 12 80.0 42.9 1 6.7 0 2 13.3 36.6
IT/ Network 5 71.4 17.9 0 0 2 28.6 17.1
security
Network 2 66.7 7.1 0 0 1 33.3 7.3
Support and
Services
Product 2 66.7 7.1 0 0 1 33.3 7.3
development
&
Innovation
Strategy and 0 0 1 100 33.3 0 2.4
Planning
29
The study findings show that majority (42.9%) of IT Services departments of
telecommunication companies used both server and desktop applications as compared
to Strategy and Planning departments that did not use OSS in both server and desktop
environments. IT services and Engineering departments had the highest levels of
adoption of server applications at 36.6% and 19.5% respectively.
Data analysis using chi-square test revealed a statistically significant association
between department and preferred OSS (chi-square value =19.46, p=0.078). This
implies that there is evidence of significant relationship between telecommunication
department and adoption of OSS (Table 4.4).
Table 4.4: Chi-Square Tests on Departments and Decision on OSS
Adoption
Value df Asymp. Exact Phi Value Cramer's V
Sig. (2- Sig. (2-

sided)
sided)
Pearson chi-
19.461a 12 0.078 .107 Value: 0.689 Value: 0.487
square
Likelihood Approx. Approx.

13.106 12 0.361 .432
ratio Sig:0078 Sig:0.078
Fisher's exact Exact Sig: Exact Sig

13.124 .263
test 0.107 0.107
No. of valid 41 41
41
cases
a. 19 cells (90.5%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .07.
30
4.3.1 Adoption of Open Source Desktop Applications
Respondents were asked which open source desktop applications were being used in
their departments. Table 4.5 shows the extent of implementation of various
applications.
Table 4.5: Desktop Applications Adoption
Desktop Applications Frequency Percentage
Operating Systems 29 70.7%
Office Applications 4 9.8
Web browsers 24 58.5%
Email Clients 5 12.2%
Desktop Virtualization 13 31.7%
Others 1 2.4%
Figure 4.4: Desktop Applications Adoption
31
The results indicate that among the various desktop applications, operating systems
such as Linux are the most popular (70.7%), with web browsers such as Firefox
(58.5%) second, followed by desktop virtualization applications (31.7%). There is
little adoption of office applications (9.8%) and email clients (12.2%) which may be
attributed to the dominance of Microsoft office applications (Roe, 2013).
Data analysis revealed there was no significant relationship between the user
department and adoption of open source desktop applications (chi-square value
=81.57, p=0.369). However, the chi-square test revealed a statistically significant
association between telecommunication companies’ ownership structure and OSS
desktop adoption (chi-square value =18.99, p=0.055) (Table 4.6).
Table 4.6: Chi-Square Tests on Organizational Structure and OSS
Desktop Adoption
Value Df Asymp. Exact Sig. Phi Value Cramer's V
Sig. (2-sided) (2-sided)
Pearson chi-
18.996a 13 0.123 0.055 Value: 0.681 Value: 0.681
square
Approx. Approx.
Likelihood ratio 24.273 13 0.029 0.056
Sig:0.123 Sig:0.123

16.903 0.075
test 0.055 0.055
No. of valid 41 41
41
cases
32
Open source desktop adoption occurred mainly in publicly owned companies, with
average adoption of 5 desktop applications and systems as compared to the adoption
of 3.2 applications by privately owned companies (Figure 4.6).
Figure 4.5: Number of Desktop Applications and Systems Adoption
by Company Ownership
These findings are consistent with Almeida (2009) who argues that the delay to adopt
OSS may be due to hefty investments made on proprietary software and perception
over open source risks. In addition, privately owned telecommunications’ companies
are believed to have stringent company policies on what software they use on the
desktop applications. The same may not necessarily apply for publicly owned
companies.
33
4.3.2 Adoption of Open Source Server Applications
Respondents were asked which open source server applications were being used in
their departments. Table 4.7 shows the extent of implementation of various
applications.
Table 4.7: Combined Utilization of Various Open Source Server
Applications
Server Applications Frequency Percentage
Operating Systems 34 82.9%
Web servers 29 70.7%
Email servers 9 22.0%
Databases servers 25 61.0%
Web proxy services 7 17.1%
Firewall services 14 34.1%
DNS servers 15 36.6%
Network monitoring and 19 46.3%
management
Software Defined 2 4.9%
Networking
Cloud Management 5 12.2%
Business support functions 5 12.2%
Others 1 2.4%
34
Figure 4.6: Server Applications Adoption
Results show that OOS server applications for various services were also widely used.
The data shows that operating systems (82.9%), web servers (70.7%) and database
server (61%) were the most widely used open source applications. Software defined
networking (4.9%), Cloud management (12.2%) and Business support function
(12.2%) were the least used applications.
A comparison based on the company’s department was made of the different server
uses (Table 4.8). The results show there is no significant association between the
company’s department and adoption of open source domain applications (chi-square
value =2.117E2a, p=0.239). It is therefore adequate to conclude that the user specific
department is not essential in determining domain specific adoption.
35
Table 4.8: Chi-Square Tests on Department and OSS Server
Adoption
Value Df Asymp. Exact Phi Value Cramer's V
Sig. (2- Sig.

sided)
(2-
sided)
Pearson chi- Value:

2.117E2a 198 .239 .b Value: 0.928
square 2.273681
Likelihood Approx. Approx.

125.301 198 1.000 .220
ratio Sig:239 Sig:239
Fisher's exact
263.419 .220
test
No. of valid 41 41
41
cases
The Pearson’s chi-square test also revealed that there was no significant association
between company ownership and adoption of server applications and systems (chi-
square value =36.80, p=0.297). The findings therefore suggest that the company
structures did not affect the decision on OSS server/domain technology adoption.
36
Table 4.9: Chi-Square Tests on Organizational Structure and OSS
Server Applications Adoption
Value Df Asymp. Exact Phi Value Cramer's V
Sig. (2- Sig. (2-

sided)
sided)
Pearson chi-
36.798a 33 0.297 0.113 Value: 0.947 Value: 0.947
square
Approx. Approx.
Likelihood ratio 49.301 33 0.034 0.113
Sig:0.297 Sig:0.297

34.109 0.113
test 0.113 0.113
No. of valid 41 41
41
cases
The finding may be attributed to the fact that telecommunication companies spend
significant financial resources on server applications as compared to desktop
applications. In an effort to manage these costs, it is possible that irrespective of the
ownership structure, there is a shared need to adopt OSS at the server level as a
measure to manage such costs.
4.3.3 Future Trends of Open Source Adoption.
The respondents were further asked about their future company plans in regard to use
of OSS. Majority (73%) indicated that they intend to increase or begin using various
OSS in future, whereas only 7% had no plan to adopt OSS (Figure 4.6). This signifies
37
a rising trend towards telecommunication companies intensifying their use open
source in the future.
Figure 4.7: Adoption of Open Source Software in Future
Intention to use open source in future was measured using a 5-point Likert scale
ranging from 1 (least extent) to 5 (large extent) and shown in Table 4.10. The data
shows that telecommunication companies had a mean score of 2.73 and therefore
intended to use open source in future.
38
Table 4.10: Plan to Increase OSS Applications Adoption
LEAST 2 3 4 LARGE MEAN
EXTENT EXTENT SCORE
(1) (5)
Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %
a) Operation Systems such 1 2.4 3 7.3 2 4.9 22 53.7 3.46
as Linux, FreeBSD
b) Email service 8 19.5 5 12.2 7 17.1 6 14.6 1.69
applications such as
Postfix and Exim
c) Database service 3 7.3 5 12.2 5 12.2 14 34.1 2.71
applications e.g
MySQL, MariaDB,
PostgresSQL
d) Server virtualization 3 7.3 6 14.6 10 24.4 8 19.5 2.54
applications such KVM
e) Web proxy services 8 19.5 9 22.0 4 9.8 4 9.8 1.93
such as Squid
f) Firewall services such 2 4.9 8 19.5 7 17.1 3 7.3 7 17.1 2.10
as IPTables, Firewalld
g) DNS Service 1 2.4 3 7.3 7 17.1 4 9.8 12 29.3 2.56
BIND, UNBOUND and
NSD
h) Network monitoring & 4 9.8 2 4.9 6 14.6 15 36.6 2.80
management
Zabbix, Cacti, Nagios
etc.
i) Software define 1 2.4 5 12.2 3 7.3 8 19.5 9 22.0 2.37
Networking such as
OpenDaylight
j) Cloud management 1 2.4 3 7.3 3 7.3 10 24.4 13 31.7 2.95
OpenStack &
CloudStack
39
k) Business support 10 24.4 9 22.0 3 7.3 5 12.2 2.05
functions such as CRM,
Billing, Data analytics
l) Desktop Applications 1 2.4 1 2.4 5 12.2 6 14.6 15 36.6 2.85
such as Firefox, Open
Office etc
The findings revealed that open source operating systems, cloud applications, desktop
and network monitoring and management applications were the most likely to be
adopted (Table 4.10).
4.4 Perceived Benefits of OSS
The perceived benefits of adopting OSS can be largely categorized either as being
financial, technical or business as ranked by the number of respondents citing them as
being relevant to the adoption decision are outlined below. Respondents were asked
several questions relating to their perceptions towards benefits realized through open
source on a five point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree). Table 4.11 presents the number of responses for each rating and the
corresponding percentages.
40
Table 4.11: Benefits of OSS Applications
Benefits Strongly Strongly Mean
Disagree 2 3 4 Agree (5) score
(1)
a) Open source has saved the 1 2.4 1 2.4 5 12.2 7 17.1 27 65.9 4.41
company money that would
have been used in
purchasing and supporting
proprietary solutions.
b) Open Source applications 2 4.9 4 9.8 14 34.1 11 26.8 10 24.4 3.54
have increased flexibility of
software as we can modify
the source code as we wish.
c) We have avoided vendor 2 4.9 1 2.4 6 14.6 15 36.6 17 41.5 4.05
lock-in with Open Source
which has brought freedom
in use of software.
d) The company is more 11 26.8 13 31.7 11 26.8 6 14.6 3.31
innovative as a result of use
of Open Source.
e) Open source has scaled well 8 19.5 20 48.8 9 22.0 4 9.8 3.24
for majority of applications.
f) Increase security e.g. almost 4 9.8 9 22.0 15 36.6 9 22.0 4 9.8 2.93
free from viruses
g) Open source is available on 2 4.9 8 19.5 15 36.6 16 39.0 4.12
demand from the Internet.
h) Availability of support from 3 7.3 3 7.3 10 24.4 14 34.1 11 26.8 3.61
a large community of users
i) Variety of open source 2 4.9 13 31.7 11 26.8 15 36.6 3.98
applications for various
needs
41
Financial gains were reported as being very significant especially in saving the
company resources that would have been otherwise used in purchasing and supporting
proprietary solutions. The cost saving aspect is of importance to companies operating
in a competitive environment such as the telecommunication’s industry at present.
Second to that was availability of open source on demand from the Internet, the
removal of vendor lock-in, and increased flexibility as the third and fourth core
benefits of adoption. This implies that there is convenience and perceived ease of use
by being able to access the software and modify source code that allows the
customization of OSS to a company’s specific requirements and product innovation.
4.5 Challenges in Adoption of Open Source
Table 4.12 shows the responses relating to factors inhibiting OSS adoption using a 5-
point Likert scale. The findings indicate that lack of executive support, lack of proper
software support, lack of quality guarantee, ownership and inability of OSS to run
critical telecommunication services are hindrances to the adoption.
42
Table 4.12: Factors Inhibiting OSS Adoption
Challenges Strongly 2 3 4 Strongly Mean

Disagree(1) Agree (5) score
a) Lack of proper 2 4.9 4 9.8 8 19.5 14 34.1 13 31.7 3.76
support for the
applications
b) Lack of executive 1 2.4 3 7.3 5 12.2 11 26.8 21 51.2 4.17
support for open
source
applications
c) Majority of our 3 7.3 3 7.3 11 26.8 14 34.1 10 24.4 3.56
systems are only
available as
proprietary
applications
d) We do not 6 14.6 15 36.6 13 31.7 4 9.8 3 7.3 2.46
understand Open
Source licensing
models
e) Switching costs 3 7.3 12 29.3 5 12.2 16 39.0 5 12.2 3.15
from proprietary
application to
open source are
too high
f) We cannot 5 12.2 6 14.6 7 17.1 11 26.8 12 29.3 3.37
guarantee quality
of service will be
achieved with
open source
software
g) Open source 4 9.8 7 17.1 6 14.6 16 39.0 8 19.5 3.34
solutions lack
ownership and
cannot be relied
to run critical
telecommunicatio
n services.
h) There is lack of 5 12.2 11 26.8 18 43.9 6 14.6 1 2.4 2.59
proper
documentation
with open source
software.
i) We cannot quite 4 9.8 8 19.5 13 31.7 14 34.1 2 4.9 2.98
establish all costs
related to open
source adoption.
j) Our software 8 19.5 10 24.4 17 41.5 6 14.6 3.54
vendors
understand
telecom
operations and
are therefore
better placed to
develop
proprietary
applications to
run our services.
43
These findings are consistent with other studies (Tomas Yakel, 2001) who argued that
open source adoption is influenced by executive and managerial involvement and
positive disposition in supporting the use of OSS. This study also established that
majority of the telecommunication systems being available only on proprietary
applications and telecommunication vendors being trusted to run the industry are also
major barriers of open source adoption.
Overall, the results indicate that economic gains and open source technical capability
are major drivers of adoption while software support, security, quality guarantee,
associated migration costs, lack of alternative open source applications and
telecommunication equipment vendors are inhibitors of OSS adoption by
telecommunication companies in Kenya.
44
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
This section presents a summary of the study findings, conclusions and
recommendations based on the analysis presented in the previous chapter.
5.1 Summary of the Findings
The objective of this research was to investigate the extent of OSS adoption in
telecommunications companies in Kenya, benefits realized as wells as challenges
faced with the adoption.
Telecommunication companies in Kenya have adopted various OSS applications, but
utilization varied between companies and departments within the telecommunication
companies. The cross tabulation tests reveal that majority of the companies use open
source in both servers and desktop applications. The analysis reveals that
telecommunication department influences adoption of desktop OSS. Among the
various desktop applications, operating systems and web browsers were found to be
widely used. The results indicate that the company ownership structure within the
industry has a substantial influence regarding adoption of desktop OSS.
In regards to server specific applications, the results show that the companies adopted
a combined use of operating systems, web servers, database and network monitoring
and management applications. The results indicate that user specific department and
ownership structure is not essential in determining server applications. The findings
45
reflect the cost management strategies implemented by the telecommunication
companies as mainly leading the adoption of OSS.
5.2 Conclusion
Open source integration into the telecommunication industry has the potential to
optimize and reduce costs associated with proprietary software. This study revealed
that open source applications are already in operation in all of the telecommunication
companies with anticipated economic benefits being the key driver of adoption as
compared to technical benefits. Availability of open source on demand, removal of
vendor lock-in and increased flexibility also make OSS a very attractive option for the
industry. The findings also indicate that lack of executive support for adoption of
OSS, lack of support for the OSS software and vendors of telecommunication
solutions driving operations of telecommunication companies as major hindrance for
the adoption of OSS.
With the rapidly evolving technology and changing consumer patterns that
necessitates technological advancements and innovations, open source therefore
offers a solution for the telecommunication industry to adapt and manage their costs.
This is supported by the large percentage of respondents who plan to adopt new OSS
applications or increase the use in the near future. With the rapidly evolving
technology and changing consumer patterns that necessitates technological
advancements and innovations, open source therefore offers a solution for the
telecommunication industry to adapt and manage their costs. This is supported by the
large percentage of respondents who plan to adopt new OSS applications or increase
the use in the near future.
46
5.3 Recommendations
From the study, there is need for telecommunication companies to embrace open
source software for their operations. There is however need to involve all the key
stakeholders in the company, especially the executive, in the adoption decision since
lack of executive support was cited as major hindrances of adoption. In addition,
capacity building developers of open source software would minimize resistance to
adoption since support and quality of OSS was also cited as another major concern
hindering the adoption of OSS.
5.3.1 Research Limitations and Areas of Further Research
The research findings and their implications are not without limitations, although
industry representation was adequate. Any conclusions are therefore primarily
applicable to telecommunication industry but could as well apply for related
industries in the technology area but this would require further research. It was not
possible to use policy variables such as company specific software policies and a
comparison of adopters and non-adopters of open source within the same industry.
Other researchers can address these factors and explore this area further.
47
REFERENCES
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Telecommunications Field.
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Telecommunication services: A Review of Literature & Trends. Indian
Institute of Foreign Trade.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/03/telefonica_picks_hp/
Cornejo, G. M., Seaman, C. B., & Koru, K. A. (2007). An Empirical Investigation

into the Adoption of Open Source Software in Hospitals.
Dalvit, L., Terzoli, A., & Wolff, F. (2008). Open-

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Diomidis, S., & Vaggelis, G. (2009). Open Source Adoption In Large Us Companies.
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revolution: How telecom operators can stake their claim. Booz & Company.
Giridharadas, A. (2010, March 13). Africa’s Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/weekinreview/14giridharadas.html?_r=0
Githaiga, G. M. (2012). Open Source Applications in Commercial Banks in Kenya.
Hasan, N. (2009). Issues and Challenges in Open Source Software.
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the top of Infonetics telecom vendor scorecard. Retrieved from Infonetics
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Highlights.asp
Hwang, S.-y. (2005). Adopting open source and open standards in the public sector:
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Evolution Patterns of Open-Source Software Systems and Communities.
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50
APPENDICES
APPENDIX : QUESTIONNAIRE
Section A: Demographics and General Information
This section requires your input of general information regarding you and your
company. Kindly tick appropriately or input information where required.
i. Name of your organization
[ ] Safaricom Limited
[ ] Airtel Kenya
[ ] Orange Telkom
[ ] Equitel
ii. What is the ownership structure of your organization?
[ ] Public owned
[ ] Private Owned
iii. How long in years has your organization been in operation?
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………...
iv. How long in years have you worked in the organization?
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
v. Which one of the following best describes your role in the organization?
[ ] Technical Manager, Network Systems
[ ] Technical Manager, Support Services
[ ] Systems Engineer
51
[ ] Technical, Head of Department
[ ] Systems Analyst
[ ] Support Engineer
[ ] Security Engineer
[ ] Other, (Specify) ……………………………………………
vi. What is your age bracket in years?
[ ] 20–25
[ ] 25-30
[ ] 30-35
[ ] 35-40
[ ] 40-45
[ ] 45-50
[ ] 50-55
[ ] 55-60
vii. What is your gender?
[ ] Female
[ ] Male
viii. What is your highest academic qualification?
[ ] Certificate [ ] Diploma
[ ] Degree [ ] Master’s Degree [ ] Doctorate
ix. How many employee does your company have?
[ ] 1 – 100
[ ] 101 – 500
[ ] 501 – 1000
[ ] >1000
52
x. What functions best describes your department
[ ] Engineering
[ ] Customer Support
[ ] IT services
[ ] Network Support & Services
[ ] Product development & Innovation
[ ] Enterprise Services
[ ] IT/Network Security
[ ] Other, please list……………………………………………………
xi. How many employees does your department have?
[ ] 1 – 50
[ ] 51 - 100
[ ] >100
Section B: Extent of Open Source Software Adoption
1. Are you aware of open source software?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
2. Does your organization use open source software applications?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] I don’t know
3. If yes, in question 2, is the use of open source in the following areas
[ ] Server applications
53
[ ] Desktop applications
[ ] Both servers and desktop applications
4. Which of the following open source desktop applications and systems are in
use in your department.
[ ] Operating Systems such as Linux
[ ] Office applications such as Open Office or Libre Office
[ ] Web browsers such as Firefox
[ ] Email Clients such as Evolution or Thunderbird
[ ] Desktop virtualization applications such a Virtual Box or KVM
[ ] Other, (Specify) ……………………………………………
5. Which of the following open source server applications and systems are in use
in your department.
[ ] Operation Systems such as Linux, FreeBSD
[ ] Web server applications such as Apache and Nginx
[ ] Email service applications such as Postfix and Exim
[ ] Database service applications such as MySQL, MariaDB, PostgresSQL
[ ] Server virtualization applications such KVM
[ ] Web proxy services such as Squid
[ ] Firewall services such as IPTables, Firewalld
[ ] DNS Service applications such as BIND, UNBOUND and NSD
[ ] Network monitoring and management applications such as Zabbix, Cacti etc
[ ] Software Defined Networking such as OpenDaylight
[ ] Cloud management applications such as OpenStack and CloudStack,
54
[ ] Business support functions such as CRM, Billing and Data analytics
[ ] Other, (Specify) ……………………………………………
6. Do you plan to increase or begin the use of open source software in future?
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] I don’t know
7. To what extent do you plan to start the use of open source software in the
future for the following functions?
Least Large
Extent Extent
1 2 3 4 5
m) Operation Systems such as Linux, FreeBSD
n) Web server applications such as Apache and

Nginx
o) Email service applications such as Postfix
and Exim
p) Database service applications such as
MySQL, MariaDB, Postgres SQL
q) Server virtualization applications such KVM
r) Web proxy services such as Squid
s) Firewall services such as IPTables,

Firewalld
t) DNS Service applications such as BIND,
UNBOUND and NSD
55
u) Network monitoring and management
applications such as Zabbix, Cacti, Nagios
etc.
v) Software Define Networking such as
OpenDaylight
w) Cloud management applications such as
OpenStack and CloudStack
x) Business support functions such as CRM,
Billing, Data analytics
y) Desktop Applications such as Firefox, Open
Office etc
z) Other, (Specify) ………………………..
Section C: Benefits of Adoption of Open Source Software Adoption
8. What benefits would you say your department has realized as a result of adoption
of open source applications.
Strongly Strongly
Benefits Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
j) Open source has saved the company money that
would have been used in purchasing and
supporting proprietary solutions.
k) Open Source applications have increased
flexibility of software as we can modify the
source code as we wish.
l) We have avoided vendor lock-in with Open
Source which has brought freedom in use of
software.
m) The company is more innovative as a result of use
of Open Source.
n) Open source has scaled well for majority of
applications.
o) Increase security e.g. almost free from viruses
p) Open source is available on demand from the
56
Internet.
q) Availability of support from a large community
of users.
r) Variety of open source applications for various
needs.
aa) Other, specify…………………………
bb) Other, specify…………………………
cc) Other, specify…………………………
dd) Other, specify…………………………
Section D: Challenges of Open Source Software Adoption
9. What are the challenges faced or hindering the adoption of open source by your
department?
Strongly Strongly
Challenges Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
k) Lack of proper support for the applications
l) Lack of internal skills to install and manage
the applications
m) Lack of executive support for open source
applications
n) Majority of our systems are only available
as proprietary applications
o) We do not understand Open Source
licensing models
p) Switching costs from proprietary
application to open source are too high
q) We cannot guarantee quality of service will
be achieved with open source software
r) Open source solutions lack ownership and
57
cannot be relied to run critical
telecommunication services.
s) There is lack of proper documentation with
open source software.
t) We cannot quite establish all costs related to
open source adoption.
u) Our software vendors understand telecom
operations and are therefore better placed to
develop proprietary applications to run our
services.
v) Other, specify …………………………
w) Other, specify …………………………
x) Other, specify …………………………
y) Other, specify …………………………
58

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ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE BY THE

TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN KENYA

ALEX NDERITU KAMIRU

A MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN

degree in any University.

Name: Alex Nderitu Kamiru

Reg No.: D61/79111/2012

Dr. Kate Litondo

I also with to thank my colleagues in technology who gracefully accepted to

participate in completing the questionnaire and for the invaluable information

provided by them. I am grateful for their cooperation during the period of my

away from them in pursuit of academic excellence is highly appreciated.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ........................................................................................... iii

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... x

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1

1.1Background of the Study .......................................................................................... 1

1.1.1 Open Source Software ...................................................................................... 1

1.1.2 Telecommunications Industry in Kenya .......................................................... 3

1.2 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... 4

1.3 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................ 6

1.4 Importance of the Study ........................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 8

2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8

2.2 The Concept of Open Source Software ................................................................... 8

2.3 Open Source Software Environment ..................................................................... 10

2.3.1 Open Source in Server Environments ............................................................. 10

2.3.2 Open Source in Desktop Environments .......................................................... 12

2.4 Challenges of Open Source Software Adoption .................................................... 12

2.5 Benefits of Open Source Software Implementations ............................................. 14

2.7 Open Source Software in Kenya ............................................................................ 18

2.8 Theoretical Foundation .......................................................................................... 19

2.8.1 Technology Acceptance Model in Relation to OSS Adoption ....................... 19

2.8.2 Technology-Organization-Environment Framework...................................... 21

2.9 Summary of Literature Review .............................................................................. 21

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................ 23

3.1 Research Design..................................................................................................... 23

3.2 The Population ....................................................................................................... 23

3.3 Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 23

3.4 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER FOUR: EMPIRICAL RESULTS ......................................................... 25

4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 25

4.2 Descriptive Statistics .............................................................................................. 25

4.2.1 Distribution of the Respondents...................................................................... 25

4.2.2 Demographic Characteristics .......................................................................... 27

4.3 Survey Results ....................................................................................................... 28

4.3.1 Adoption of Open Source Desktop Applications............................................ 31

4.3.2 Adoption of Open Source Server Applications .............................................. 34

4.3.3 Future Trends of Open Source Adoption. ....................................................... 37

4.4 Perceived Benefits of OSS ..................................................................................... 40

4.5 Challenges in Adoption of Open Source ............................................................... 42

5.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 45

5.1 Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................... 45

5.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 46

5.3 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 47

5.3.1 Research Limitations and Areas of Further Research..................................... 47

Appendix : Questionnaire ............................................................................................ 51