[kictanet] [isoc_ke] For those who think Safaricom is Dominant - Think Again..

[rsohan at gmail.com]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 12:03 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:

> What you are advocating is to punish Safaricom for out innovating the
> competition.
>

Nope. Never said that. My email was super-clear.


> What should they do? Pussyfoot around them? Let's be honest. Business is
> war. And anyone who thinks otherwise has not been in the trenches.
> Safaricom was not born dominant. And I dare say it won't remain dominant.
> I'm all for the policy to enforce interoperability which will take care of
> the 'noise' from vanquished competitors.
>

They can and should do whatever they want viz innovation.  But to use your
dominant position to stop others from innovating (aka a non-level playing
field) is not only illegal but has proven to be detrimental to innovation
in the long term.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#Monopoly_and_efficiency>  This is
the point that Airtel and a bunch of other people (including small
startups, external companies and quangos) have made.

Personally, I would also argue a dominant partner that is afraid of
competition and uses underhanded tactics to get rid of them is not really
the kind of company you want at the forefront, because it's a weak
company.  Strong companies out-innovate, they don't out-legislate or
out-thug (term mine).


>
> My other point is that the regulatory environment needs to take into
> consideration the global environment. Mpesa must be allowed space to grow
> beyond Kenya. Mpesa here means any Kenyan product.
>

Either I'm missing something or this point is orthogonal to the
conversation.  Who is stopping Mpesa (or any other Kenyan product) from
being exported? AFAIK there's no embargo on the exportation of technology
from Kenya on a global scale. Please elucidate.


> We must emulate Japan & other Asian Giants. Policy and regulation must as
> a matter of course favor local companies.
>

You mean protectionism? Maybe, but this comes at a price -- namely fixed
prices, *opolies, high-cost of goods, etc.  It's debatable what's good for
African markets at this point.


> I make no apologies for this last point - Free markets are a dream
> perpetuated by foreign interests with the end game of dominance.
>
>
>
> I am not sure I understand this point.  In my understanding, there is no
"foreign interest" in a free market, it's, by definition, a FREE MARKET!
Perhaps you mean we're provided an illusion of a free market or you're
referencing something else?




> *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 24, 2015, at 11:14 AM, "rsohan at gmail.com" <rsohan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> As Bob Collymore aptly put it - Being dominant is not a crime.
>>>
>>>
> But using you dominance to stifle
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law> competition
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.> and
> innovation
> <https://www.publicknowledge.org/files/The%20Case%20Aganst%20the%20UMG-EMI%20Merger.pdf>
>  is
> <http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/21/european-parliament-break-up-of-google>,
> which is the point that is being made.
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20150225/a25c27a0/attachment.htm>