[kictanet] [Fibre-for-africa] RE: The tables are turned

Thu Oct 25 09:51:25 EAT 2007

Dear Peter,

I also think this should be abitration after the two parties did not  
agree between themselves but one of them prefered to take it to the  
regulator whether rightly or wrongly but thats their choice. The  
regulator can then ask them to go abitrate. In Ghana when a similar  
situation happened between GT and IGH, the issue went up the  
regulator and the regulator said, thier next line of call after they  
could not agree was to abitrate and if abitration does not work then  
they come to the regualtor and if the decision of the regulator does  
not work then the courts comes in. Our regulations provide for such  
progression but i dont know about yours, may be Alex G. can again  
come to my rescue.

Your last issue boaders on dominate market share, now as far as i  
know Kenya does not have competition regulation but ideally that  
should take care of such growths in the market as it is in the EU. Am  
just reading a story of Microsft surcumbing to that regulation in the  
EU.

Eric here

On 23 Oct 2007, at 12:49, Peter Othino wrote:

> Hi Eric,
>
> I do agree Michael Joseph and the situation should be arbitration  
> and not a
> regulator handling commercial differences in the field.
>
> Looking at it on the reverse, the current Telkom Operation on their  
> CDMA
> platform they are no different from a GSM provider yet I believe the
> licensing conditions were different this to me has no direct  
> commercials but
> a regulatory aspect but I do not remember it being handled despite  
> concerns
> raised. I do not believe that parties need to complain for  
> regulation to be
> effected as that would kill the whole concept and drive about self
> regulation that is the ultimate desired position.
>
> Yet again if a provider gets powerful for it is position in the  
> market I
> believe it is part of the Matrix as this comes either as tangible or
> intangible value adds above the rest associated with the service  
> delivered.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peter Othino
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Timothy Kasonde KASOLO [mailto:timothy at africonnect.co.zm]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:08 PM
> To: eadera at idrc.or.ke; APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop
> Participants
> Cc: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants;  
> KICTAnet ICT
> Policy Discussions
> Subject: RE: [Fibre-for-africa] RE: [kictanet] The tables are turned
>
> Hello,
> I think the media needs to be balancing the articles ....
>
> Timothy
>
>> Michael,
>>
>> It would help to hear your side of the story so we can all be  
>> informed.
>>
>> We unfortunately do not have other sources of information at this  
>> point
>> other than the media.
>>
>> Looking forward,
>>
>> Edith
>>
>> -original message-
>> Subject: [Fibre-for-africa] RE: [kictanet] The tables are turned
>> From: "Michael Joseph" <MJoseph at Safaricom.co.ke>
>> Date: 23/10/2007 10:53 am
>>
>> What you have not mentioned whether the complaint had any merit and
>> whether the Parties could not have resolved it between themselves  
>> rather
>> than relying on the CCK to mediate every commercial dispute. There is
>> much more to this than just the one-sided view quoted by the media  
>> but
>> we have chosen not to try to resolve our disputes through the media.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>>
>> CEO
>>
>> Safaricom Limited
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: kictanet-bounces+mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> [mailto:kictanet-bounces 
>> +mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke]
>> On Behalf Of Eric Osiakwan
>> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 12:27 AM
>> To: Michael Joseph
>> Cc: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants;  
>> KICTAnet
>> ICT Policy Discussions
>> Subject: [kictanet] The tables are turned
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>>
>>
>> We are really living in interesting times especially in the ICT  
>> industry
>> because a few years ago, it was the mobile operators and ISPs who  
>> would
>> be knocking on the doors of the regulator complaining and sometimes
>> weeping at the anti-competitive practices of the imcumbent PTT  
>> towards
>> them.
>>
>>
>>
>> Today the tables have turned and in Kenya as per the story below,  
>> Telkom
>> Kenya is rather asking CCK to put Safaricom in check because they are
>> acting anti-competitively on the SMS platform against their CDMA
>> operation. Five years ago, this would have being an "incorrect  
>> prophesy"
>> but it has happen sooner than all would have expected.
>>
>>
>>
>> What is more interesting is the fact that Safaricom is 60% owned by
>> Telkom Kenya which is fully owned by government that means that the
>> mobile operators have become so powerful that the combined years  
>> of PTT
>> operation and their political forces cannot turn the tables except  
>> the
>> mediation of the regulator. This confirms Russell Southwood's recent
>> story of the emergence of the mobile operators as the new  
>> incumbents of
>> our time.
>>
>>
>>
>> May be one good thing is the fact that the mobile incumbents are so
>> powerful that not a combiantion of PTT operation and political forces
>> can impact them except the court of the regulator so the political
>> leadership in some of our countries would now see reason to  
>> strengthen
>> their regulators and make them independent enough to be the pivot to
>> balance the weight of the mobile operators against their "cash cow"
>> incumbents.
>>
>>
>>
>> Eric here
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Telkom Lodges SMS Petition Against Safaricom in Kenya
>>
>> In the fight for control of Kenya's lucrative telecoms industry,
>> competition is becoming a useful weapon in the hands of rival firms
>> -especially those that need to play the catch-up game to remain in  
>> the
>> race.
>>
>> This market share war has become so intense that players are breaking
>> all boundaries in the corporate rulebook.
>>
>> Five months ago, mobile phone service provider Celtel took its bigger
>> and only rival Safaricom before the market regulator, accusing it of
>> playing unfairly in the market to the disadvantage of the consumer.
>>
>> Now it is the national operator Telkom's turn to lodge a landmark
>> complaint against its subsidiary -Safaricom.
>>
>> In its letter to Mr John Waweru, the Communications Commission of  
>> Kenya
>> director general, Telkom Kenya is accusing Safaricom of practising
>> anti-competitive behaviour in the market -especially in the Short
>> Messages Services (SMS) segment of the business.
>>
>> Telkom says Safaricom has been blocking the exchange of SMSs  
>> between the
>> two networks, thereby denying its customers access to key services  
>> that
>> the national operator is offering such as the one that enables  
>> them to
>> check their voter registration details with the Electoral  
>> Commission of
>> Kenya (ECK).
>>
>> "Telkom Kenya is concerned that Safaricom is engaging in
>> anti-competitive behaviour and in essence abusing its dominant market
>> position by introducing barriers to new entrants targeting SMS market
>> segment," Telkom says.
>>
>> Public attention was first drawn to the matter after some Safaricom
>> subscribers complained that Safaricom was charging them for  
>> undelivered
>> SMSs to Telkom Kenya's Wireless network. SMSs to Telkom network  
>> got an
>> automatic reply indicating that delivery had failed yet the consumers
>> were being billed.
>>
>> Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph acknowledged that some of its  
>> subscribers
>> had sent messages to Telkom Kenya during the test period and may have
>> been charged erroneously.
>>
>> He said that although the company was not billing SMSs to Telkom
>> Wireless network between August 13 and August 27, some of its  
>> customers
>> may have been billed. Safaricom later agreed to refund the affected
>> subscribers.
>>
>> Telkom says that on August 16, the two interconnectivity negotiating
>> parties met and agreed on interconnection rate and a technical  
>> testing
>> schedule.
>>
>> During this period the parties also exchanged SMS test templates  
>> to be
>> adopted in the tests. Safaricom has however not cooperated in
>> facilitating the process, making it unable to commercialise the  
>> service.
>>
>> The matter seems to have reached fever pitch after Safaricom  
>> introduced
>> a voter registry query service similar to the one Telkom Kenya had
>> rolled out after it won an ECK tender.
>>
>> Telkom Kenya is complaining that failure by Safaricom to activate the
>> SMS service is affecting its ability to use an innovative platform  
>> that
>> delivers voter registry query services by utilizing the 460  
>> numeric to
>> access the ECK database.
>>
>> Telkom Kenya says Safaricom acted maliciously in delaying to activate
>> the SMS service only to launch a similar service.
>>
>> "We are perturbed that Safaricom, having not been involved in the
>> initial tender process is currently able to provide a similar  
>> services
>> using the 460 prefix. This is a totally unacceptable anti-competitive
>> behaviour," Telkom says.
>>
>> Mr Joseph declined to comment on the matter saying it was already  
>> before
>> an arbiter.
>>
>> Telkom Kenya is the majority shareholder at Safaricom with a 60  
>> per cent
>> stake. It co-owns the company with the United Kingdom's Vodafone Plc
>> which has a 40 per cent stake in the firm.
>> (Source: Business Daily)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Eric M.K Osiakwan
>>
>> Executive Secretary
>>
>> AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org)
>>
>> Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
>>
>> Fax: + 233.21.258811
>>
>> Cell: + 233.244.386792
>>
>> Handle: eosiakwan
>>
>> Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North
>>
>> Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
>>
>> Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
>>
>> Slang: "Tomorrow Now"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> Timothy Kasonde Kasolo,
> Africonnect
> NETWORK SUPPORT ENGINEER,
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Eric M.K Osiakwan
Executive Secretary
AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org)
Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031
Fax: + 233.21.258811
Cell: + 233.244.386792
Handle: eosiakwan
Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North
Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North
Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/
Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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