[kictanet] Expensive Airtel?

Sun Apr 7 12:33:46 EAT 2013

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"Song, Stephen" <stephen.song at gmail.com> wrote:

An interesting aside from the Canadian telecommunications sector. In 2009, Industry Canada (the ministry responsible for telecommunications) spent tens of thousands of dollars developing a mobile plan comparison tool to assist frustrated consumers in choosing the right plan/service/operator. It was well-designed and had received praise from the focus groups it was tested on. Despite this the project was killed weeks before it was due to launch. Why? Lobbying and threats of lawsuits from mobile operators.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2009/08/31/ottawa_killed_cellphone_cost_calculator.html

Complex pricing tariffs only serve the operators not the customers. The mobile operators clearly feared people actually being able to properly compare tarifs.

IMO, the problem is not whether or not to have a plan comparison tool. The problem is that the mobile operators are allowed to use such perniciously complex plans. Some supermarkets post the price/100g of products on their shelves to stop companies from altering sizes slightly to create the appearance but not the reality of a discount. Perhaps operators should be obliged to post the average cost of a plan according to a standard OECD price basket. Free telecom disrupted the entire telecom industry in France in part by coming up with a 1 price approach to their service.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/how-the-telecom-company-free-disrupted-the-mobile-landscape-in-france/

If the CCK ought to do anything at all, perhaps it should be in the realm of enforcing simplicity and comparability of plans rather than trying to develop complex tools to analyse complex plans.

-Steve Song

On 5 April 2013 12:39, Mark Mwangi <mwangy at gmail.com> wrote:
I do not think it is the CCK's Job to tell you the cheapest/most affordable/the most understanding telco. We may be over stretching the bodies responsibilities while not giving it more funding.

If you find them too expensive there are other options. I for instance keep most of my traffic on Orange and only keep Safaricom for the M-pesa. There are choices.

On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com> wrote:
The regulator:
1. Issues Licenses
2. Determines Interconnection fees
3. Lords over the Telcos stopping them from "tabia mbaya" - like unfair competition
There is nowhere where the consumer surfaces in the mind of the regulator, if you ask me.

On 5 April 2013 16:28, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:
Great idea!

However, my question would then be what’s the role of the Regulator – CCK? This information, processed in this manner should be in the public domain and comparable across operators as one of CCK’s roles is to check not only on quality of service, but also price of service.

Edith

From: Odhiambo Washington [mailto:odhiambo at gmail.com]
Sent: April 5, 2013 2:52 PM
To: Edith Adera
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Expensive Airtel?

Hi Edith,

Do it like a Standard 1 kid would:

1. Load 50bob airtime

2. Set phone to show phone duration

3. Make a call lasting N minutes

4. Check airtime balance after the call.

Do the same on your Safaricom/Yu/Orange Tarrif.

Show the comparison.

Ditto for data. Buy bundle. Download the same file on 3 different networks. Check bundle balance.

Tabulate and show us how they compare:-)

On 5 April 2013 13:29, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:

Listers,

It has taken me months wondering if it’s real or imaginary that Airtel has become very expensive! Whether it’s for calls or Internet (spectacularly expensive especially for this service). It dawned on me as I was writing this message that indeed I’ve not seen their aggressive adverts on favourable tarrifs etc for a while now (nor from other providers as it was a while back). Has the telecom market ceased to be competitive given our peculiar Kenyan behaviour (“sticky” consumers who do not respond to number portability, poor quality of service, high price of service etc etc).

Am I alone?

Wondering Edith

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