[kictanet] Pondering mobile competition

Wed Aug 25 18:16:17 EAT 2010

Listrers,
(I'm typing this from a street corner!)

There's a lot of pessimism towards Zain's new tarrif owing to the fact
that, maybe, "most" people are in Safaricom.
It's quiet illogical even for some non-market analysts, to give their
negative impression of Zain/Bharti tarrif owing to the fact that they
might be shareholders of Safcom.
I'd rather, we don't take sides and let the best team win - as long
the consumer is - insttead of attacking an investment.

My little thoughts.

On 25/08/2010, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:
> Cool!
>
> On 25 August 2010 17:56, Dennis Kipruto <rutodenis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Andrea,
>>
>> On monday I bought a zain sim card and I wasn't allowed to pick my line
>> before I had given a copy Of my ID card.all the street vendors have been
>> given a booklet containing all the details that need to registered by
>> respective telcos.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dennis Kipruto.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Aug 25, 2010, at 4:41 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <
>> andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:
>>
>> I'm particularly curious if, in this whole feeding frenzy, Zain are
>> actually urging people to register, and also whether CCK will really treat
>> end-August as the cut-off date and, well, cut everyone unregistered off.
>> It'd be interesting to hear from both organisations.
>>
>> I'm still not sure whether my registrations have actually entered the
>> system, never mind whether the whole exercise made any sense since I'm now
>> convinced that I could have registered as Elton John. Or even as Michael
>> Jackson in his latter pale days:
>>
>>
>> <http://andreabohnstedt.blogspot.com/2010/07/anecdotal-evicence-sim-card.html>
>> http://andreabohnstedt.blogspot.com/2010/07/anecdotal-evicence-sim-card.html
>>
>> On 25 August 2010 16:32, <
>> <Francis.Hook at gmail.com>Francis.Hook at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> It would be interesting to see what impact SIM registration has on total
>>> subscriber numbers across all networks. In RSA, Vodacom alone shed one
>>> million subscribers when SIM registration was implemented. With the multi
>>> SIM card population we have (Yu, Zain, Orange in the wallet and Safaricom
>>> in
>>> the phone...or sthg like that...or two lines on one network obtained from
>>> handset offers etc), subscribers may be compelled to decide who is their
>>> "true love"....and now with the tariff wars raging....and with MNP in the
>>> vicinity push WILL come to shove.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 25, 2010 2:41pm, Walubengo J < <jwalu at yahoo.com>jwalu at yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > Andrea,
>>> >
>>> > yes, indeed these are interesting times. but not for me, at least not
>>> yet.
>>> >
>>> > The high costs of voice communications have for a very longtime
>>> socialized me into the (peculiar?) habit of NOT talking. I have grown
>>> used
>>> to alternative means of communication and just feel too old to suddenly
>>> start yapping. So of what use is 20bob, 8bob, 3bob, 2bob or even 1bob per
>>> minute voice call if I rarely talk anyway ;-)
>>> >
>>> > My prayer is that these price wars will eventually move over from the
>>> Voice to Data (internet) markets.  That will be the day I will really get
>>> excited...
>>> >
>>> > walu.
>>> > nb: me-still-thinks Zain will not cause any significant dent on Safcom
>>> 80% existing market share but shall instead gain 80% of all the NEW
>>> subscribers over the next couple of months...but perharps am just being
>>> biased since am told the Zain new owners
>>> > have the money to sustain "loses" for longer periods of time(even 5yrs)
>>> in order to cause a serious dent on the market leader's position. May the
>>> best man and woman win.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --- On Tue, 8/24/10, Andrea Bohnstedt
>>> <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
>>> andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
>>> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Pondering mobile competition
>>> > To: <jwalu at yahoo.com>jwalu at yahoo.com
>>> > Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>> > Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 4:38 PM
>>> >
>>> > The 'abuse' complaint was silly, I think: Zain's network was congested
>>> from day one of their tariff launch. I'm sure, very very sure, that
>>> telecoms
>>> professionals at both Zain and Bharti are, well, professional enough to
>>> anticipate the need to increase network capacity if
>>> > they launch such an aggressive tariff.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > You've seen the fun little leaked exchange between Rene Meza and
>>> > Michael
>>> Joseph - Zain approached Safaricom in the evening asking for capacity on
>>> the
>>> Safaricom-owned link, and Joseph promised to look into this in the
>>> morning.
>>> The interconnection agreement between both companies states that this
>>> protocol can take up to seven days, as far as I understand.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> <http://www.ratio-magazine.com/201008203586/Kenya/News-Analysis-Telecoms-Price-Wars-Gone-Dirty.html>
>>> http://www.ratio-magazine.com/201008203586/Kenya/News-Analysis-Telecoms-Price-Wars-Gone-Dirty.html
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Either they could have just increased capacity before the launch, or,
>>> > if
>>> they were worried about alerting Safaricom to this, then just suck up and
>>> tell customers that the network will be congested for another seven days.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > So for Zain to come out the next morning and shout about abuse is
>>> > dishonest and a cheap marketing ploy that I think they really don't
>>> > need.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > I'm a happy capitalist. Competition is a good thing, in Kenya as
>>> elsewhere. So I'd like them to compete on the strength of their services
>>> and
>>> concepts, not by overnight accusations of 'abuse'.
>>> >
>>> > Mind you, if Zain kill of Orange and Essar, we'll have a bit less
>>> competition in terms of numbers, but hey ... :)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Happy phone calls,
>>> > Andrea
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 24 August 2010 14:34, Emmanuel Khisa <oloo.khisa at googlemail.com>
>>> oloo.khisa at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Hi Andreas,
>>> >
>>> > You have spoken for me on this one...I have also wondered since
>>> zain/bharti lodged their complaint with CCK over clogged network, were
>>> they
>>> just playing spoilt kid or do they have a valid claim? My opinion is that
>>> since they have experienced an unanticipated rise in subscribers they
>>> didnt
>>> have the network infrastructure to support these calls and so quickly
>>> blame
>>> the rival and make them look bad. But then again maybe they have a valid
>>> case against the boys in green.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Nonetheless the winner here is the consumer. Shall we safely say that
>>> > we
>>> have entered the third mobile revolution.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 1:56 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt
>>> <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > I'm wondering:
>>> >
>>> > Will CCK strictly enforce the cut-off deadline for unregistered SIM
>>> cards at the end of August? Are Zain making sure that everyone picking up
>>> a
>>> new line also register them immediately?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > If price war is Zain's strategy, will they have enough money left to
>>> invest in infrastructure and customer service once their subscriber
>>> numbers
>>> go up significantly? Will they be able to scale up both systems quickly
>>> enough?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Telkom Orange are cited in the media as complaining that the
>>> interconnect rate also applies to their fixed line service and that this
>>> is
>>> not even covering their costs
>>> (<http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Telkom%20unhappy%20with%20interlink%20fee/-/1006/995372/-/o9pm5az/-/>
>>> http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Telkom%20unhappy%20with%20interlink%20fee/-/1006/995372/-/o9pm5az/-/).
>>> I wonder if the two big ones having it out won't kill the two small ones
>>> first?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Bharti/Zain have also launched free sms alongside lower on and off-net
>>> calling rates and free minutes in Nigeria:
>>> <http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=1652_Bharti+subsidiary+Zain+introduces+free+SMS+in+Nigeria>
>>> http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=1652_Bharti+subsidiary+Zain+introduces+free+SMS+in+Nigeria
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Happy afternoon,
>>> > Andrea
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> >
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>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > Andrea Bohnstedt
>>> > Publisher
>>> > +254 720 960 322
>>> > <http://www.ratio-magazine.com>www.ratio-magazine.com
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrea Bohnstedt
>> Publisher
>> +254 720 960 322
>> <http://www.ratio-magazine.com>www.ratio-magazine.com
>>
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>
>
> --
> Andrea Bohnstedt
> Publisher
> +254 720 960 322
> www.ratio-magazine.com
>

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