[kictanet] Whatsapp Users in Kenya; Total No?

Thu May 26 00:21:02 EAT 2016

It's necessary to have a mobile subscription and to pay the mobile operator to use online services in Kenya, abi? So what do you mean when you say that operators are losing customers?

Consumers pay operators for data, no be so? And then they use the data that they pay for to access all kinds of services, including yum.co.ke, ongair, okhi, Ushahidi, and yes, WhatsApp. Should the consumer pay twice? Should the operator get to decide what the consumer does with the data they purchased? If online services did not exist, what would drive data consumption?

By this logic, mobile operators shouldn't even exist, as they have surely put fixed line telephony out of business. And what about the telegraph companies?! Or the post? Should regulation ensure that those remain the only mode of communication?

W/r to sharing data on number of users-per previously-Facebook gladly shares the number of users in Kenya! With press releases and great fanfare. WhatsApp is a much newer entity; they are not there yet, in any country. When they are, I'll be glad to let you know!

Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315<tel:+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
10 Brock Street | London<x-apple-data-detectors://0/1> | NW1 3FG
ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>

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On May 25, 2016, at 9:03 PM, Baiju Shah <baiju at telemedia.co.ke<mailto:baiju at telemedia.co.ke>> wrote:

Hi Ebele,

In my view of being transparent and to demonstrate that you have a recognition of the Kenyan customers using your services will be interesting for the group. Telco operators like Orange, Equitel, Airtel and Safaricom do have a good idea of the losses that face when a user chooses to use whatsapp for their voice and messaging needs. Therefore, consider sharing some stats with the group, maybe the Communications Authority can make is mandatory to report the usage of the different services may be or the operators can submit the required figures of their loss to what's app.

Thanks,

Best Regards,
Baiju

On 25 May 2016, at 22:47, Ebele Okobi <ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>> wrote:

I think there is a bit of confusion about what regulatory requirements apply to WhatsApp or to Facebook on this thread, as well as a misunderstanding of my reply. WA has not released numbers for any countries, and there is no regulatory requirement that WhatsApp do so. Facebook does release Kenya numbers, voluntarily. It's not clear to me what "shame" has to do with this conversation, but I'm always happy to be educated!

Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315<tel:+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
10 Brock Street | London<x-apple-data-detectors://0/1> | NW1 3FG
ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>

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On May 25, 2016, at 8:06 PM, Baiju Shah via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

Hi All,

All mobile companies in Kenya will be able to tell you how much biz they are loosing to .what's app in terms of subscribers and further more the loss of sms traffic will provide a good yardstick.

Else, get the CA to ask FB for the numbers that is easy and they Will provide the numbers if they want to comply with regulatory requirements.

FB - please provide the numbers it is nothing to be ashamed about.

Thanks,

Best Regards,
Baiju

On 25 May 2016 21:45, "Ali Hussein via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Those are very possible numbers considering even my grandma is on our family whatsapp group..:-)

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ke.linkedin.com_in_alihkassim&d=CwMFaQ&c=5VD0RTtNlTh3ycd41b3MUw&r=ArvepG4_wcNu_X9xi3nb_Xa9WsGLVfmK6mwPdVONOTE&m=tJwFdWWdverW-WSEjzRy7A50oBiTS7GibZWfEmYFdhw&s=CxJMAWSFI_Kb0MfHp5yLZy70ILNNJNA5CBf6pw-J3Ac&e=>

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On 25 May 2016, at 8:12 PM, Sidney Ochieng via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

The CEO of Ongair estimated today at #WhatsNextMedia that there more than 8m people on Whatsapp

Sidney

Touched not typed from my Infinix Z3

On 25 May 2016 7:14 pm, "Ebele Okobi via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Unfortunately, we don't have public by country numbers-apologies!

Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315<tel:+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
10 Brock Street | London | NW1 3FG
ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>

[6F376569-CC77-422B-BAD3-794055B1E02B]

On May 25, 2016, at 4:26 PM, Ebele Okobi via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

Apologies for the delay-far too much travel.
I’m not sure if we have public figures for WhatsApp by country-I’ll inquire internally and revert.
Best, Ebele
<6F096681-9A34-452C-A5CD-1D0E4C64A463[6].png>

Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315
2 Stephen St | London | W1T 1AN
ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>

From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+ebeleokobi=fb.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-bounces+ebeleokobi=fb.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of Ngigi Waithaka via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Reply-To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Date: Monday, May 16, 2016 at 4:59 PM
To: Ebele Okobi <ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>>
Cc: Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi at at.co.ke<mailto:ngigi at at.co.ke>>
Subject: [kictanet] Whatsapp Users in Kenya; Total No?

Hello Listers,

Is there any study, research or commentary that indicates the No of Whatsapp users in Kenya (i.e registered to a .KE no)

Waithaka Ngigi
Alliance Technologies
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