[kictanet] Are Regulators punishing 'Dominant Positions' or rewarding mediocrity? Or is this regulatory thinking outdated?

[Phares Kariuki]

A brilliant read is "The Org". It basically covers this. When organisations
get larger, they become less nimble and more expensive to operate, which
invariably allows for new technology outfits to come up.

The Taxi market was monopolised for a very long time. Uber has come to
change that. Cloud services are changing the way people use IT, for the
first time, bell weather companies like Cisco, IBM, HP and even Microsoft
are struggling. In the US T-Mobile is changing how the telcos work.

So long as no undue advantage is given to any corporate, no company will be
able to have an absolute monopoly. The petroleum companies have a monopoly
for now, but at the current rate, either we'll not have a planet or that
business model will die a natural death (extracting and selling
hydrocarbons). They'd better morph into energy companies.

On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 7:37 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Listers
>
> Google is on the crosshairs of the European Regulator for behavior
> unbecoming of a Dominant Position. Reminds us of companies that were
> dominant and punished by Regulators the world over:-
>
> Remember Microsoft? Intel? Palm? IBM? AT&T? Standard Oil?
>
>
> http://adage.com/article/digital/google-face-eu-charges-antitrust-violations/298061/?utm_source=mediaworks&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1429654967
>
> What Regulators couldn't do the Market took care of. I have no problem
> with Regulation per se. What I have a problem with is this Old-School
> interpretation of Dominance when the world around us is shifting every
> second.
>
> Let's reconfigure our thinking on how we define and execute regulation
> lest we kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
>
> Take our local Telco space. If we consider Safaricom playing in one space
> - data and mobile money then we can easily say Yes! It is dominant. But
> consider this:-
>
> 1. Zuku dominates the Triple Play space. No actually, just the two play
> space. - Paid TV (debatable that they are dominant here with the
> proliferation of digital TV) and Internet at home. Strong contenders are
> entering the market led by Jamii and Safaricom. For some reason Zuku has
> decided to ignore the phone they give you with every installation.
>
> 2. Payments space. Lipa Na Mpesa, Equitel, Visa, MasterCard, PesaPal,
> white label products from Cellulant, Craft Silicon, Jambopay and other
> players scrambling to claim a share of the billions in the Payments space.
> So who is dominant?
>
> 3. Remittances:- this is a global $550 billion market with corridors
> across the world - from source markets in the GCC countries to the U.S.
> into India, Africa etc. Safaricom does about a billion in remittances,
> partnering with the likes of Western Union and every bank willing to jump
> onto the bandwagon. This is not a business that can be geo regulated in
> Kenya alone but needs a global mindset.
>
> Regulators (and yes this includes CA, because in my humble opinion we
> should be the benchmark the world looks up to since it's now not a doubt
> that we are Ground Zero on innovation in mobile payments) need to balance
> the need to nurture innovation and protect consumers and trust the market
> will take care of the rest.
>
> So instead of every regulator the world over scrambling to be the first to
> punish 'Dominant Positions' let them instead broadly define and ensure
> adherence to concepts like Net Neutrality, work with consumer protection
> agencies/organizations and embrace (really embrace) multi-stakeholderism.
>
> Let them do this and I have a sneaky suspicion that Wanjiku (and her
> equivalents) the world over will take care of the rest.
>
> *Ali Hussein*
> *Hussein & Associates*
> +254 770 906375 / 0713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>
> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
>
> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
> what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
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-- 
Warm Regards,

Phares Kariuki

*E*: pkariuki at gmail.com | *Twitter*: kaboro | *B*: http://www.angani.co |
Angani Limited
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