[kictanet] Matiang’i rules out Safaricom reprieve from licence terms

Thu Jan 9 12:31:59 EAT 2014

Adam,

I did send the report link in an earlier post. It was  @

http://www.cck.go.ke/consumers/other_info/downloads/REPORT_ON_THE_QUALITY_OF_SERVICE_2012-2013.pdf

The only problem I have is that CCK might be looking at Quality in isolation. In an ideal situation, the increased No. of subscribers would put pressure on the Safaricom Network such that its Quality would deteriorate (which has happened) and subsequently force subscribers to ran away to better quality networks (which has NOT happened). If Safaricom customers had moved to other networks, this would force Safaricom to naturally improve its Quality (read: invest in Network Capacity Expansion in tandem with increased Subscriber numbers).

Reading the riot act to Safaricom is not sufficient to warrant Quality improvement. The departure of its customers would.  

So if I was the DG of CCK, I would be working on the WHY are the suffering -sorry - Safaricom ustomers like me NOT moving? Sort that out, and the quality equation will be resolved.

walu.

--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 1/9/14, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Matiang’i rules out Safaricom reprieve from licence terms
 To: jwalu at yahoo.com
 Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 Date: Thursday, January 9, 2014, 11:36 AM

 Where is the report?
 All I see is a press release with no
 report:
 http://cck.go.ke/news/2013/Mobile_operators_fail.html

 And a broken link for the 'Publications &
 Statistics' section:
 http://cck.go.ke/resc/

 --Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa:
 kili.ioMusings: twitter.com/varud
 About
 Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson

 On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at
 11:26 AM, James Mbugua <jgmbugua at gmail.com>
 wrote:

 Adam,
 It might help if you read the CCK report itself
 on their website.
 James

 On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at
 11:23 AM, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com>
 wrote:

 I guess the US regulators would step in about
 voice quality if it was bad in certain areas that the market
 wouldn't want to serve.  The theory would be that the
 spectrum is a public asset licensed to the vendor in order
 to further the public good - and that part of the license
 terms are to satisfy the public good.

 This is why the US landline regulators force
 telephone companies to service very rural areas at the same
 price as more economically efficient urban
 areas.
 If CCK was saying that all of the operators
 needed to put masts in Turkana as part of a public good,
 that would be one thing.  But just saying that voice
 quality is low in general and not backing it up with how
 that compares to international standards (they surely exist
 and the article discusses that Safaricom passed such
 international tests) seems like a pretty weak argument to
 me.  

 Of course, the writing in the Business Daily
 article is so muddled that it's hard to tell what's
 actually going on.

 --Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: kili.ioMusings: twitter.com/varud

 About
 Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson

 On Thu,
 Jan 9, 2014 at 11:14 AM, James Mbugua <jgmbugua at gmail.com>
 wrote:

 Adam,
 Is it standard in other countries or is the QoS a
 Kenyan/CCK feature? Then it might be a
 shakedown.
 James

 On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 11:11 AM, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com>
 wrote:

 This seems like a shakedown to me.  
 Everybody I know gets Safaricom if they can
 afford it (otherwise Airtel).  The market can handle
 quality problems and the CCK can help by educating the local
 markets (i.e. local radio spots discussing carrier quality
 in each market).

 --Kili.io -
 OpenStack for Africa: kili.ioMusings: twitter.com/varud

 About
 Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson

 On Thu, Jan 9,
 2014 at 11:07 AM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
 wrote:

 ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i has vowed to tie the renewal
 of Safaricom’s licence to the voice quality checks that
 show the mobile phone operator is non-compliant.

 Dr Matiang’i said the government and the Communications
 Commission of Kenya (CCK) will not negotiate on the voice
 quality standards.

 ....

 “I don’t understand why an operator would like to
 negotiate a licence condition. There are only two options
 here, either comply or step out of the business,” Dr
 Matiang’i told the Business Daily on the sidelines of the
 launch of the electronic filling of returns by insurers to
 the Insurance Regulatory Authority.

 Check more @ http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Safaricom-licence-terms/-/539550/2139198/-/uvyr23/-/index.html

 ---

 my comment? - Safaricom "ina weneyewe"
  translation for the international viewers "Safaricom
 has its owners" :-)

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