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

Thu Jan 9 17:37:58 EAT 2014

True that @Kimani,

More Revenue should lead to subsequent investments in expanding the Network Capacity - ideally(theoretically).  But reality is different.

Assume you bought a 14-seater Matatu (bus) and the passenger demand is so high that you always carry above the specs -i.e around 20 passengers in the 14-seater.  How long will it take it you upgrade to a 28-seater matatu? 1yr, 2yr, 5yrs, when govt tells you to?

The correct answer is as soon as you start losing the "seated" customers.  As long as the seated (existing) and the joining customers are NOT leaving the matatu (network), you will not bother to expand it. Why should you when you are making twice the money expected to be made from the 14-seater?

Strictly speaking, in a free market economy even the government cannot force you to expand your matatu (Network). Only the customers can...and if the customers are not (leaving), find out why and fix that. My hypothesis is that the market is broken. Fix the market and the quality issues will fix themselves.

walu. 

--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 1/9/14, Antony Kimani <kimanianthoni at gmail.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, 12:46 PM

 @Walubengo
 IMHO the more the customers the higher the revenue
 suffericon should have invested more on infrastucture for
 quality improvement as the customer numbers grew.

 BR

 On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at
 12:37 PM, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com>
 wrote:

 I don't see any methodology section in that
 report.  Is this evaluation using standard methods?  If
 so, what are the actual methods used by CCK to generate the
 numbers?

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

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

 On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at
 12:31 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
 wrote:

 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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 network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
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 network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
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