[kictanet] why safaricom has no competition

Tue Feb 7 11:24:15 EAT 2012

Reminds me when internet was then the new craze to hit the country in the mid 90’s, and one of the major ISPS got a

“backbone” internet connection of 9.6Kbps (nine-dot-six) direct to the internet cloud via MCI in the US.

The speeds were considered then to be “ Super fast”, and the clients who were resold the costly bandwidth on the 

other end really felt that this was the best connectivity of all times.

It’s really a long, long way we have come, but headed somewhere…

Harry

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of robert yawe
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 10:46 AM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
Subject: Re: [kictanet] why safaricom has no competition

Hi Hussein,

I fully agree with you on that point, it not that Safaricom is doing anything better just that the rest are mediocre, as is said "in the land of the blind the one eyed man will be king".

Just to prove your point, I have been trying to get a comprehensive pricing from Safaricom of their cloud offering and all I have been getting is twitter type responses.  

Why can't they just have a kiosk type menu where one can pick what they need without having to send 100 emails to 20 different departments/people a.k.a silos over a period of 2 months.

Selling cloud is not new Amazon has been at it for years (now offering 5 GB free cloud storage), the Indians are doing it www.esds.co.in but the Kenyans are trying to recreate the wheel.

"Self deception is the easiest form of deception"

Regards

Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

  _____  

From: Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
To: 'robert yawe' <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> 
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2012, 10:58
Subject: RE: [kictanet] why safaricom has no competition

Robert

You have made my day… J Though I must say that it’s a really sad day when the choice is between ‘iffy’ service and bad service…

We have become so ‘pavloved’ to bad service in the Telco sector that we now just roll over and play dead..

Have a wonderful day!

Ali Hussein|Managing Partner

Telemedia Africa
Azania Technology Group

Chaka Court, Argwings Kodhek Road

P O Box  14556-00100

+254 773/713 601113

Nairobi, Kenya

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

From: kictanet-bounces+info=alyhussein.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+info=alyhussein.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of robert yawe
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 10:34 AM
To: info at alyhussein.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] why safaricom has no competition

Hi,

We are always giving Safaricom flack on all issues including the lack of rain but today I have realised that they are still the better option.

I read on the Airtel website, http://africa.airtel.com/kenya/choose-your-number-148, about a service that allows you to choose your own number directly from your phone. 

So I dashed to the nearest Airtel Shop to purchase a SIM card, I asked the attendants whether this service is available and they said I should go to one of the customer service centres.  This already indicates that the information on the web site is obsolete, how much does it cost to update a website, I wonder.

So off I went to Kimathi Street service centre and for a minute I thought it was a classroom as there where rows of chairs facing the front, of the class.  Any customer service centre that has more chairs than a post Michuku Matatu definitely has serious problems.

As I had 10 minutes to kill I decided to pick a ticket just to go through the menu and there was no option for SIM card services so it seems that stopped offering this service and since there where more than 14 people already seated in the queue I decided that this was an exercise in futility.

I decided to humour myself by buying an Airtel SIM card and try following the instructions on the web site, alas to no avail.  The instructions do not correspond to the menus on the phone, then after cycling through a few options I get the correct one just to get the message that I cannot change the number because i have a pending "Kopa Kredo" balance and that I need to clear it before proceeding.

Note that this is a brand new SIM card so does it mean that on purchase the SIM card already has a debit balance?

I then go to the "Kopa Kredo" menu option and receive the message "dear customer the kopa kreda system is currently unavailable".

After spending 30 valuable minutes on this exercise I got a flash of brilliance and instantly went into a trans.

I felt an inner force in me remove the SIM card from the phone, fit it on my thumb and flick it into the direction of the bin where it bounced off the edge and went straight in, what a feeling of relief.  I then put back my old trusted Safaricom SIM card and continued with my day.

Now I understand why Safaricom had no issues with number portability as they say in Harlem "Once you go "green" they is no going back".

Enjoy a connected weekend

Regards

Disclaimer: This post reflects the feelings of the writer and has been done without any monetary or other kind of incentive from the mentioned organisations.  The tests where done under an impartial and controlled environment, you are free to try the same at home.

Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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