[kictanet] Equity Bank vs Safaricom :-Round 2

Tue Sep 16 17:31:19 EAT 2014

@Ali,

Equity is not just after Safaricom lunch, they are after their dinner as well :-).

This thin-SIM technology will do what Number Portability failed to do.  People are likely to "Vooka" onto Equity (cheaper) voice services without having to buy two phones or dual-SIM phones.  Equity mobile money value proposition, will have the side-effect of knock the breath out of Safaricom's voice revenues...fortunately, Safcom can see this, and they are not taking it kindly :-)

We are indeed living in very interesting times in .Ke

walu.
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 9/16/14, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Equity Bank vs Safaricom :-Round 2
 To: jwalu at yahoo.com
 Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 3:18 PM

 Collins 
 Well put. 
 Walu, 
 I'm keen to understand how a
 technology which is a commodity ( read here that Safaricom
 can also implement the same technology) can usurp
 Safaricom's unassailable lead in this
 space.
 What's my
 point? 
 Technology is
 an accelerator and NOT The Strategy in itself. Assume first
 that what you can access in the open market (as opposed to
 restricted technology under patent) your competitors can do
 so too. We usually forget this but MPesa isn't even the
 best mobile technology in the country. Not even by a long
 short! They managed to capture their base through first
 mover advantage and a positioning statement that was
 apparently well received by Kenyans. And of course there is
 the Network Effect of being ubiquitous in the
 space.
 Equity needs to
 execute with excellence and not depend on the Technology to
 take on Safaricom.
 Needless to say I would love to be a
 fly on the wall in the strategy sessions currently going on
 in both companies. Careers will be made or broken on
 this..no doubt about that.
 Ali
 Hussein
 +254 770
 906375 / 0713 601113
 Twitter: @AliHKassimSkype: abu-jomoLinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassimBlog: www.alyhussein.com

 "I fear the day
 technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
 have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert
 Einstein
 Sent from my iPad
 On Sep 16,
 2014, at 1:06 PM, Collins Areba via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 wrote:

 "We are glad
 to use this platform to deliver an extension service to our
 customers, It is our heartfelt desire to satisfy our
 customers first, and if technology affords us that
 opportunity, we are obliged to take up on it. If the same
 technology should allow us to interact with our customers,
 and have an opportunity to give them voice and data
 in the same breath, then why not, those would be extras to
 the benefit of our client... "

 Paraphrased from memory during an
 interview on Citizen last week. I think this opens the game
 wide Open, and For the Record, Safaricom should be given a
 Commercial Banking license. 

 My 10 Cents.

 On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at
 12:06 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 wrote:
 Listers,

 I thought you might find this interesting,

 ----------------

 After Equity Bank decided to directly play in the mobile
 money market by issuing its own SIM cards, we debated
 heatedly in a previous blog whether Safaricom had finally
 met its match.  At the time, it was assumed that Equity
 would be selling the traditional SIM card, which would
 require customers to either buy dual SIM-card phones or
 carry two phones in order to access services from two
 existing providers.

 Even within the inconvenient scenario above, Equity with its
 large customer base was bound to pose some significant
 competition to the leading mobile money provider
 Safaricom.  The surprise, it seems, is the secret weapon
 Equity unveiled recently in the form of a Thin-SIM
 Card....

 ------

 Read more @

 http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/2453920/-/11d48l2z/-/index.html

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 -- 
 Regards, 

 Collins Areba, 
 P.O Box 44441, 00100
 Nairobi, Kenya. 
 Tel: +254 707 750 788 / 720 516
 758
 Twitter: @arebacollins.
 Skype: arebacollins

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 in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT
 enabled growth and development.

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