[kictanet] [isoc_ke] Should Safaricom be broken up as 'recommended' by Airtel?

Sat Feb 21 09:20:41 EAT 2015

Phares,

The difference is, they compete against each other in the market and hence
push the market and innovations forward.

Think of it this way, what if Telkom Kenya hadn't been broken up? There
would not have been a Safaricom.

IMO, Safaricom should not be curtailed, but broken into two:
1. Safaricom Telcom: Mobile Voice, Data etc Services
2. Safaricom Money: Mpesa, Mshwari etc

Safaricom Money as an independent entity should then be a BFF to every
Telcom local and International in Money Transfer.

Following Ali's argument, this is the company to promote and it could
easily be the first Kenyan Company in Fortune 100.

But as long as its inside Safaricom where its used as a competetive tool
against local competition, it will always remain a small operation
internationally and with time it will stifle local creativity in Mobile
Money.

Waithaka Ngigi

Alliance Technologies
Nairobi, Kenya

www.A1.io
On 20 Feb 2015 16:49, "Phares Kariuki via kictanet" <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil#Successor_companies
>
> Not the first time something like this has been tried. The constituent
> companies still dominate oil. No new entrants per se.
>
> John Leger at T-Mobile figured this out
> http://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobile-swings-to-q4-profit-as-customer-growth-zooms-along/
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Walu
>>
>> Do you have some socialist leanings? :)
>>
>> There is a simple solution to dealing with the Mpesa dominance issue.
>> Drive policy to ENFORCE interoperability. You kill that dependency very
>> quickly.
>>
>> Rwanda has done it successfully. Why can't we? after all it's a matter of
>> national security.
>>
>> With interoperability I can switch seamlessly within the financial sector
>> infrastructure without worrying. The government/Airtel/Orange/Kenya Bankers
>> then drives awareness ala Digital Migration. :)
>>
>> It's not rocket science and it doesn't require any breakup. :)
>>
>> *Ali Hussein*
>>
>> +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
>>
>> "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
>> have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Feb 20, 2015, at 3:45 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> @Mwendwa - u mention some 2010 regulations on competition published by
>> the Ministry of ICT.  Not seen these regulations but I would be worried
>> that the ministry of ICT is now publishing regulation - something that is
>> the mandate of the Regulator.  Ministry should stick to policy.
>>
>> Either way, the Law (as in the Constitution and the Acts are superior to
>> the Regulations and so in case of conflict I would expect the latter to
>> override)
>>
>> As for breaking up Safcom, I have always proposed we should given its
>> giant state - even the might of MTN, Equity, Airtel combined will barely
>> scratch its dominant position.  The question is not so much that they have
>> "earned" this position through hard work and innovation, the question is
>> about creating backup positions for ourselves as a country.
>>
>> Think about it, if MPESA broke down today for more than 2hrs today, we
>> might have street riots. This is good for Safaricom but not good for Kenyan
>> stability -unless and until we have a reliable alternative of MPESA with
>> similar magnitude we are literally a social bomb waiting to be triggered.
>> Indeed if I was a foreign army wishing to attack Kenya, I will not target
>> the barracks or statehouse, I will target MPESA.
>>
>> Our success is has become our biggest liability and we must face that
>> fact and begin to think around it constructively. Airtel is secondary in
>> this conversation if you asked me. We should have had  it on own volition.
>>
>> walu.
>>
>>   ------------------------------
>>  *From:* Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *To:* jwalu at yahoo.com
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 18, 2015 5:04 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] [isoc_ke] Should Safaricom be broken up as
>> 'recommended' by Airtel?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 18 February 2015 at 15:22, WANGARI KABIRU via isoc <
>> isoc at lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
>>
>> *“The Kenya Information and Communications Act section 84W gives the
>> Communications Authority of Kenya powers to declare a service provider to
>> be dominant if their market share is at least 50 per cent of the relevant
>> gross market segment,” Mr Matiang’i noted. *
>>
>>
>> Wangare, you have murdered the law, and read it out of context.
>>
>> "The current regulation on competition, published by the ICT ministry in
>> 2010, equates dominance to abuse of the market. The regulator says this
>> makes it difficult to declare a licensee dominant considering that the
>> threshold of proof of abuse is very high."
>>
>> ______________________
>> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>>
>> "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on
>> higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>>  _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pkariuki%40gmail.com
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Warm Regards,
>
> Phares Kariuki
>
> *E*: pkariuki at gmail.com | *Twitter*: kaboro | *B*: http://www.angani.co |
> Angani Limited
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigi%40at.co.ke
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20150221/c3edb27f/attachment.htm>