[kictanet] Safaricom accused of predatory pricing offers to settle. Will interoperability drive an mCommerce Revolution?

[Mark Mwangi]

In my opinion Safaricom is doing what is required of a commercial company
especially one with majority foreign interest.

The government should be doing what it needs to do especially being with a
majority local interest. That Safaricom is the biggest tax payer is a
problem itself. I would advocate for the unbundling of the various
businesses such that MPESA is a separate business from the telco even if
Safaricom maintain 100% ownership.

The idea is not to punish Safaricom for first mover advantage but to ease
the choke hold in the industry. Mobile money should be controlled by the
CBK the same way banks are. I don't understand why the hesitance.

That we are still comfortable that 30% of our GDP is transacted by a single
company with servers sitting in Europe is rather ridiculous.


On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 3:45 AM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:

> Listers
>
> As Safaricom is in the news again accused of abusing its market power,
> this time in the mobile money space I think we should now start asking the
> tough questions:-
>
> Should Regulators force interoperability in the Mobile Money & Banking
> space?
>
> Will it spur more usage beyond the normal money transfer services towards
> a truly seamless and well oiled mcommerce revolution?
>
> What are the implications of this if at all the Regulator has the
> foresight and muscle to force this?
>
> How about IP Laws? Will this be unfair to Safaricom seeing as it is that
> they built this dominant position through sheer hard work and seamless
> execution of strategy? Or is this a mute point since we are now discussing
> a greater good beyond one company?
>
>
> http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Safaricom-calls-M-Pesa-war-truce/-/539550/2082040/-/item/0/-/awsfy1/-/index.html
>
> Safaricom is obviously using the *Network Effect* to the max and it is as
> it should. One begs the question however whether it was wise and prudent to
> follow this strategy to muzzle the competition? In some case its costs more
> than three times to cross use the Mpesa platform to any of the other mobile
> money services. For how much longer should the regulator allow this
> anti-competitive practice to continue unabated?
>
> Ali Hussein
>
> +254 0770 906375 / 0713 601113
>
> "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
> have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
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-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke
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