[kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars

[Walubengo J]

@Mwale,

Since am not onsite i dont have the finer details.  But at a glance, and I hope am wrong, my interpretation was that one of the big players (read Safcom?) may have engineered  a regulatory coup by getting Statehouse to issue an intervention/injunction that stopped the Regulator from issuing  further inter-connection price reductions.

By the way, am on record on this list and others as one of the strongest opponents of these price-wars (i dont believe they are sustainable when done in isolation of other factors) and  therefore I  do support the rationale behind the intervention. HOWEVER I do not believe that such an intervention should be coming from Statehouse - irrespective of its merit.

If Statehouse has a position on an industry issue, they should channel them through existing regulatory processes as defined by the Communication Acts and corresponding Regulations - anything else exposes you and gets the likes of Mutoro (no offense ;-) running legitimately to court.

In addition you create a situation where everyone is trying to go to State house to have their industry issues sorted out and this disadvantages those Operators who have no leverage power to meet the tenant at State house and props up new power-brokers (we have enough at CCK) to provide access to the top.

walu.

--- On Thu, 6/9/11, Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars
To: "Walubengo J" <jwalu at yahoo.com>
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 12:54 PM

Walu,

Are you saying that a request, even a reasonable one, from statehouse should never be considered by the regulator if they are to remain independent? 

>From the article, it appears the CCK board and MOIC carefully considered the 'request/directive' from statehouse and have a justification for it: "There was a feeling that
 we had moved too fast with the issue, and the decision is meant to give
 players a chance to step back and evaluate the effects that the 
significant reduction in MTRs has had," Ndemo told The standard in an 
interview.

I think 'independence' of a regulator does not disqualify them from receiving requests from statehouse or any other party. If the regulator can deliberate on the issue/request and then act in the best interest of the nation, I think they are still independent.

In this case, the government, the regulator and all the operators seem to be agreed on the issue and hence I do not expect any backfiring, unless the consumer disagrees furiously.

Best regards,

Jotham K. Mwale

--- On Thu, 6/9/11, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
Subject: [kictanet] State House moves in to quell mobile price wars
To: jokilimo at yahoo.com
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011,
 12:38 AM

By Macharia kamau, 

A
 presidential directive freezing the reduction of mobile termination 
rates (MTRs) has rendered irrelevant a prime ministerial task force set 
up to establish how reduced MTRs affect the economy and mobile phone operators.
By the Standard @
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000036808&cid=14&
~~~~~~~~
I get worried when I read headlines like these.  Is it really true or a case of being misquoted. I have a big problem when a Regulator receives explicit instructions from Statehouse=President? particularly when we have been successfull in pretending that the Regulator is truly independent. 

In the new constitutional dispensation, this can quite backfire and leave more egg on Statehouse..
walu.


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