[kictanet] Airtel accuses Safaricom of sabotaging Mobile Number Portability

Wed Apr 13 08:45:31 EAT 2011

Otsieno,

No one in the Commission is sleeping on their job. The Commission
received formal complaints in regard to this matter from porting
subscribers as well as from a section of the mobile industry.  In
response, CCK yesterday afternoon convened a meeting of the Legal,
Process and Technical Working Groups with a view to resolving the issues
in order to ensure that consumers enjoy seamless services as they port
their numbers to the networks of their choice.  During the meeting, the
two operators explained the technical problems that they have been
experiencing and committed to remedy them within the shortest time
possible. CCK is scheduled to meet with all the CEOs of the four mobile
operators today to ensure that the commitments agreed on in respect to
MNP are secured at the highest level. The Commission is sparing no
effort to ensure that the technical hitches are resolved within the
shortest time possible. 

From: kictanet-bounces+wambua=cck.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+wambua=cck.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of otsieno namwaya
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 6:57 PM
To: Wambua, Christopher
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Airtel accuses Safaricom of sabotaging Mobile
Number Portability

Mark Mwangi,

It is true that Airtel could just be attemtping to manipulate public
opinion. It is notable however that Safaricom has not denied the
allegations. In fact, reading through what they have posted on their
website, they are making counter claims and allegations against their
competitor, accusing them of not providing adequate information to
subsecribers who want to shift. I read that to mean that Safarisom is
attempting a justification of their actions as alleged, especially where
they are shy of a point by point rebuttal, at least in the interest of
the market and fairness to the consumers. But I would be glad to be
corrected on this, and this is only when the CCK and Porting Access
Kenya will show some mettle and lend credibility to a process they
started. What we must avoid is the temptation to hide behind the unknown
to dismiss the known.   

OTSIENO NAMWAYA
P.O BOX 7509 - 00200
+254-733-893550
NAIROBI
KENYA

________________________________

From: mwangy at gmail.com
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:58:25 +0300
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Airtel accuses Safaricom of sabotaging Mobile
Number Portability
To: onamwaya at hotmail.com
CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke

so why are you assuming that Airtels claims are correct? could be simply
manipulation of opinion. does anyone know of someone who has experienced
any foul play?

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 4:47 PM, otsieno namwaya <onamwaya at hotmail.com>
wrote:

That complaint by Airtel did not come as a surprise to me. For, there
had been tale tell signs from the beginning. First, Safarisom had been
the least enthusiastic about number portability. This was understable to
me, though, because, as the market leader they stood to loose the most.
But then I had not anticipated renegade behaviour from Safaricom and,
worse still, failure to tame this kind of anti competition behaviour by
the Communications Commission of Kenya. There are several things
Safaricom is doing: First, they just dont complete the porting process
of those who want to move from Safaricom to another provider. Second,
where the porting is completed at all, they block the line, so the
subscriber finds that he/she cannot be reached. This, in any fair
business environment, is unacceptable and it would not have waited until
one side cries foul. Someone at CCK is clearly sleeping on the job. 

OTSIENO NAMWAYA
P.O BOX 7509 - 00200
+254-733-893550
NAIROBI
KENYA

________________________________

From: stephen at cofek.co.ke
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:08:38 +0300
Subject: [kictanet] Airtel accuses Safaricom of sabotaging Mobile Number
Portability
CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
To: onamwaya at hotmail.com 

Hi. Interesting development this must be. We would be happy to have your
views on this article below appearing on "Airtel Kenya" Facebook page
(which we are unsure if it is the company's official page). 

Kind regards,
Stephen

Stephen Mutoro
Secretary General
Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)
Natu Court, Block F-45
Ngong Road/Ring Rd Kilimani Junction
P.O Box 2733-00200, City Square, NAIROBI, Kenya
Tel. 254-20-3861718, 3861719, 2300859
Fax. 254-20-3861719 
Cellphones: 0715555550, 0736965590, 0770700007
E-mail: hotline at cofek.co.ke
Website: www.cofek.co.ke <http://www.cofek.co.ke/> 
*************************
Restoring Consumer Pride and Confidence!

airtel accuses Safaricom of sabotaging Mobile Number Portability

by Airtel Kenya
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Airtel-Kenya/122273904502736>  on
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 3:46pm
April 12, 2011... The success of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in
Kenya is at risk with reports indicating that some operators may be
employing under hand tactics to sabotage the MNP process, barely a week
after its launch. While lauding the Communications Communication of
Kenya for making MNP a reality at an event to welcome the very first
customers moving to airtel from other networks today, Managing Director
Rene Meza raised a red flag saying several anti-competition tactics were
being used to block customers seeking to move to its network. 
He said that whereas initial technical hiccups in the implementation
process had been deemed to be normal and expected, it is now emerging
that some operators are reluctant to address the bottlenecks
expeditiously, going against the spirit of MNP project of giving the
customer freedom to own their number and move to the network of their
choice within the stipulated terms. "How do you explain several
complaints received from customers who have opted to move their number
to airtel from Safaricom being unable to receive calls from Safaricom
numbers for several days, while they are able to communicate on all
platforms on the airtel network with the same number?" posed Mr. Meza. 
He said contrary to the regulations issued by the Communications
Commission of Kenya, some operators, especially Safaricom, were still
trying to woo back customers who had already ported out of their
network. "It is amazing that after completing the 48 hour porting
process, some players had deliberately declined to de-activate the old
sim cards from their network. In essence, what this means is that the
customer has not completely moved to his network of choice but is still
held captive by Safaricom, an act that is anti patriotic and gross abuse
of dominance by Safaricom clearly designed to beat efforts of the
Government to fully liberalize the sector" he said. 
Prior to the implementation of MNP, all operators had expressed
commitment to ensure the service was implemented smoothly, a move that
was seen as another milestone in Kenya's telecommunication sector.
Largely seen as the next frontier in the battle for subscribers, the
successful implementation of MNP is a test-case for CCK's commitment to
overseeing reforms in Kenya's telecommunication sector. 
Mr. Meza added: "We have referred the matter to CCK since we feel that
if the anti-competition tendencies are not weeded out at the onset,
customers may not get a chance to enjoy real freedom and benefits of
MNP. - END -

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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and
bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect
privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

http://mwangy.posterous.com <http://mwangy.posterous.com/> 

Skype : mark.mwangy

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