[kictanet] Kibaki, Raila meddling stalls CCK actions

Thu Aug 30 08:00:37 EAT 2012

John

Well put. Let me add my two cents here.

The fact that we are discussing these very pertinent issues goes to show how far we have come as a country. And we should never take that for granted. 

Washington, sometimes desktop activism as you put it actually does work. Cases in point:-

1. The very lively debate on Internet Governance and ITRs that culminated in the IGFs that are now framing our positions prior to the Dubai WCIT in December. 

2. The Corporate Governance debate on KeNIC that resulted in an open AGM and hopefully progress in reenergizing the Organisation.

I'm sure there are other examples so don't despair as I believe the space is now open for Kenyams to provide concrete contributions for the betterment of our sector and the country at large.

Back to the issue of the Telco sector. I honestly think that the problem lies mostly with the telcos themselves and not the regulator/Executive. 

One contributor mentioned the issue of Safaricom being the dominant player and engaging in monopolistic behavior. How did this happen? I recall a time when Airtel/Celtel/Zain had more subscribers or equal to Safaricom's. What happened?

At the risk of sounding simplistic Telco services are now generic which basically means that what differentiates is the value addition, customer service and marketing. And let's not forget Data. More than half the country is still not experiencing high speed Internet - what we now take for granted in Nairobi.  

Towards the end of Ramadhan I visited my home county of Kilifi as is our tradition to break the fast with the wazees. I found it very frustrating that the Internet speeds I've now come to take for granted in Nairobi were non existent in the counties - at least in Kilifi. I'm willing to bet that this is true in the majority of the counties.

This leads me to start thinking why are the Telcos not picking up these low hanging fruits? Could it be that they are so intent on competing with each other they have become myopic? I know one of the reasons that they may raise is the huge investment required to ensure this type of service. However, how many telcos right now are willing to co-invest in the infrastructure required? All we hear is this individual telco/ISP announcing another infrastructure investment. 

In my opinion this discussion on executive interference at the CCK is a red herring. It does not detract from the fact that sone of the Telcos and ISPs business models are broken and it's just a matter of time before they drown in red ink. 

Telcos/ISPs need to understand and embrace the concept of  'Frenemy'. Join forces and invest together in infrastructure and compete on service differentiation. 

Ali Hussein

+254 773/713 601113

Sent from my iPhone®

On Aug 29, 2012, at 6:32 PM, John Kariuki <ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Walu,Edith,Listers,
>  
> The issue we face now seems to be a challenge facing many democratic governments(right from Canada through US,UK upto Australia) in the 21st century in an era of liberalization and globalization.
>  
> Authors Warwick Funnel,Robert Jupe and Jane Andrew in their book "IN GOVERMENT WE TRUST",2009 have outlined these issues and quoted cases .
> Let me quote just two lines  on pages 48 and 49 of the book.
> They quote the concerns expressed by Adam Smith about "the tendency for the powerful in business to ingratiate themselves with goverment so that they might pursuade it to use its powers for their own benefit',p48
> "....'powerful capital interests could influence state policy to benefit them at the expense of labour'.,p49.
>  
> Regarding our Mobile Termination Rate debate, the matter is one of competition law in telecommunications sector. In this case Safaricom has the largest mobile network by far and Telkom has the largest fixed network. So if you wish to call fixed line,there is no choice but to terminate in Telkom.Therefore there is little,if any, competition in the fixed termination market segment.They are virtually a monopoly in that market segment.
> In nearly similar situation, a very large number of mobile customers are on Safaricom network.If you wish to call them,there is really no choice but to terminate in the Safaricom network. By virtue of their size ,it is not difficult to notice that they have significant market power in that market segment.
>  
> It is therefore in the interest of Safaricom and Telkom to keep mobile termination rates as high as possible since there is little or no competitive pressure in that market segment for them.
>  
> In almost similar case involving Vodafone and others in UK in January 2003, the Competition Competition concluded that....."There is vigorous competition amomg MNOs(mobile network operators) to attract and sign up subscribers to their networks.......but this is funded by excess returns from termination charges......this 'distorts the volume and direction of traffic on the network,leading to a distorted pattern of usage by consumers'.
>  
>  
> John Kariuki
> 
> From: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
> To: ngethe.kariuki2007 at yahoo.co.uk 
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
> Sent: Wednesday, 29 August 2012, 16:13
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kibaki, Raila meddling stalls CCK actions
> @Edith,
> 
> Ave been working on some academic model whose preliminary data seems to support Mr. Presidents interventions  i.e. the Telco  market must project significant Returns for the investor to continue playing.  Competition is good but cut-throat competition leaves the industry (Operators, Govt and Users) worse off than before.  Think about it - would you like FREE internet that is so congested that you cannot send an email? Or would you rather pay something extra for the reasonable use of the medium?
> 
> Going back to Mr. Prime ministers interventions  - of protecting frequencies allegedly irregularly acquired by others.  My model has not factored in frequencies yet - But I think CCK may have a bigger impact on the market by recovering frequencies held up by the Military (there's a band that ITU declared for public use but previous reports indicated our Military seems to hoard this band - not sure if this has changed).
> 
> As to whether the President's and/or the Prime Ministers interventions are legal? It is debatable. However, I think the current legislative framework - Kenya Comm Amendment Act 2009 - provides for the government in power to direct the Regulator - BUT through Policy frameworks - rather than through specific or selected directives arising from which CEO had dinner with the President/Prime minister the previous night.
> 
> walu.
> 
>  
> 
> --- On Wed, 8/29/12, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.or.ke> wrote:
> 
> From: Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.or.ke>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kibaki, Raila meddling stalls CCK actions
> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 1:06 PM
> 
> Any reactions from Bwana Ndemo, who seems to have received one of the letters?
>  
> Is this also the reason why Airtel changed their rates to subscribers from 1 shilling (permanent!! - the word has earned new meaning) back to ksh 3 per minute? No one answered this question when I asked a while back. Airtel, why the change?
>  
> As stakeholders, should we accept "regulatory capture" in this industry?
>  
> Edith 
> From: kictanet [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Grace Githaiga [ggithaiga at hotmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 12:36 AM
> To: Edith Adera
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: [kictanet] Kibaki, Raila meddling stalls CCK actions
> IN SUMMARY
> The President’s intervention, which amounts to political meddling in the work of an independent state organ, has for the second time in as many years stopped the industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), from lowering the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR).
> MTR is the price that operators pay each other for calls terminating in their networks from outside and ultimately determines call costs.
> Mr Kibaki, who has been acting on behalf of Safaricom and Telkom Kenya, issued the directive in a letter to Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo, stating that there should be no change in the MTR until a fresh study of the same is carried out.
> Prime Minister Raila Odinga, jumped into the CCK’s regulatory mandate with a similar directive on behalf of yet another big business – Royal Media Services.
> Mr Odinga wrote to the CCK director-general asking him to withdraw the notice he had published of intention to revoke frequencies that the media house is accused of acquiring irregularly.
> 
> http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kibaki+Raila+meddling+stalls+CCK+actions+/-/539546/1489216/-/bay1qg/-/index.html
> 
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> 
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> 
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