[kictanet] Airtel Plans Africa Exit

Sun Feb 5 15:38:54 EAT 2017

Hey Ali,

Indeed these points you raise are pertinent.  Let us see the outcome of the Competition Market Study that we shall be releasing soon.  It is not complete but in the next few weeks, it should be out.  We shall have a stakeholders roundtable on the same.  I shall ensure this forum is informed  and also invited, then you can also interrogate the outcome of the study.

Regards,

Rachel

From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-bounces+alwala=ca.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> on behalf of KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Reply-To: KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Date: Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 9:28 AM
To: Rachel <alwala at ca.go.ke<mailto:alwala at ca.go.ke>>
Cc: Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke<mailto:ali at hussein.me.ke>>, KICTAnet Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Airtel Plans Africa Exit

Ahmed

Respectfully I disagree.

What some people call Market Failure I call Market Dominance. Dominance here means that one works for it. Hard. And earns it. As opposed to a Monopoly which one is given freely. Like Kenya Power. And the assumptions that customers will go for services or products purely based on price is a fallacy. If this were the case Apple as a company would have died a long time ago. And it almost died once. But it reinvented itself.

We need to interrogate this issue deeply. For example let's start first with interrogating the 'Dominance' Report that was supposed to have been out by now. Rachel of CA can maybe advise us on this.

Customers are unforgiving towards mediocrity. Instead of blaming a 'Dominant' player or regulation let's address this issue holistically:-

1. Is the 'Dominant' player abusing its powers? There are remedies to this.
2. Are regulatory forces skewed to one player?
3. What are customers really looking for?
4. Is the country economic dynamics big enough to accommodate more than three telcos?

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle

Sent from my iPad

On 28 Jan 2017, at 8:54 AM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <ultimateprogramer at gmail.com<mailto:ultimateprogramer at gmail.com>> wrote:

Ali,

Not only are we seeing unfair advantage accorded to specific players, I think the consumers may need to be aware that they also need to themselves take the step to invest in competing alternatives (is it that the consumers are not aware of the implications - or is it that they plain decide to join the wave).

Why I play the consumer card here is because - by experience - players like Airtel have always offered better service charges for a number of services they offer - including Airtel Money, Monthly bundled plans, etc etc. Sometimes it even made sense to get a monthly bundle from Airtel (across all networks) because its cheaper in the long run.

Frankly consumers lack of support for competing alternatives demonstrates that consumers complain a lot about unfair service provision but take no steps to make it better in the long run - in light of the fact that in such circumstances investing in competition is actually even a cheaper short term option easily available.

On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 8:38 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Listers

Another one bites the dust?

I'm really curious as to whats going on in the Telco sector.

Bharti Airtel has announced that it will be exiting 14 African countries within a year. The affected countries include: Chad, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The telecom operator is faced with poor performance across those markets. Two years ago, when Airtel began talks to sell off its operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone to Orange<http://mobilityarena.com/airtel-not-exiting-africa-despite-talks-to-sell-4-networks-to-orange/>, the company had stated that it wouldn’t be exiting Africa.

Airtel plans Africa exit<http://mobilityarena.com/airtel-exit-nigeria-13-african-countries/>

Is the African market too competitive or is the regulatory environment skewed towards a few players?

Ali Hussein

Principal

Hussein & Associates

Tel: +254 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>

13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,

Chiromo Road, Westlands,

Nairobi, Kenya.

Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.

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