[kictanet] Safaricom changes to home fibre ToS

Wed Feb 17 07:21:46 EAT 2021

Dear all,

Just received an invite for the following webinar

https://lawyershub-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_h_8OwhRDRzO7K09qCUn91A

This could be timely, seeing the current discussion on this list.

Thanking you
Kind Regards

Anuradha Khoda

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021, 07:01 Ali Hussein via kictanet, <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> @Sidney Ochieng <sidney.ochieng at gmail.com> and listers. This is a great
> conversation. I like Kivuva's argument on market forces. What we should
> possibly ask is this:-
>
> 1. Did Safaricom deliberately sought to hoodwink customers, hook them on
> cheap internet, and once they had penetrated the market changed the Terms
> of Service? And if so, are there other options in the market?
> 2. It wasn't very long ago that this list was full of complaints about
> Zuku's service. That seems to have disappeared. Could it be because an
> alternative was offered in the form of Faiba by Jamii and Safaricom's Home
> Fibre? I understand that Liquid is also testing a home internet offering.
> The more the merrier.
> 3. The regulator has been awfully silent as this debate rages on social
> media. Time for some direction?
>
> Regards
>
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
> Digital Transformation
>
>
> Tel: +254 713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 1:29 AM Sidney Ochieng via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Mwendwa for the resources. I'm going to push back on your point on
>> using market share to define whether or not competition exists in this
>> market obscures a lot. When it comes to fixed lines what matters is where
>> the cable terminates near enough to you connect to. There are entire
>> neighbourhoods that are only served by a single provider. So my question
>> still stands about what the CA is doing to ensure more competition.
>>
>> On Tue, 16 Feb 2021 at 21:47, Mwendwa Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Sidney for initiating this debate.
>>>
>>> On Tue, 16 Feb 2021 at 19:44, Sidney Ochieng via kictanet <
>>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Listers,
>>>> Not sure if you've seen the stir online of changes to the ToS with
>>>> Safaricom's home offering.
>>>> Safaricom is destroying Home Fibre with new ‘Fair Usage’ Limits:
>>>> https://tech-ish.com/2021/02/14/safaricom-is-destroying-home-fibre-with-new-fair-usage-limits/
>>>>
>>>> The response from the company has been disappointing in the extreme,
>>>> misleading with statistics and suggesting that it's best customers are
>>>> thieves <https://twitter.com/Safaricom_Care/status/1360876964651929600>
>>>> ,
>>>> never mind that working for home has lead to increased demand and use
>>>> of their services.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That tweet certainly does not call resellers thieves. It calls them
>>> resellers.
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> All this is beside the point, at least for this forum, what I'm
>>>> concerned about this that if we didn't have an eagle-eyed blogger looking
>>>> out for this, it would have been completely missed until it was already in
>>>> place.
>>>>
>>>> So I have a few of questions:
>>>>
>>>>    1. Does the CA have any policies around ToS changes around services
>>>>    under their purview and how they are communicated to users?
>>>>
>>>> CA has a consumer and public affairs department. Here is what they have
>>> to say about ToC ( CA/CPA/CEP/B/05/2014 )
>>> https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Consumer-Rights-and-Responsibilities.pdf
>>>
>>>
>>> Perhaps CA should update that information. It is 6 years old. But good
>>> information nevertheless.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>    1. Should companies that run what could be considered critical
>>>>    infrastructure be allowed to arbitrarily change their ToS to apply
>>>>    retroactively especially if it's to the detriment of their customers?
>>>>
>>>> I hope lawyers here can help us with this.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>    1.
>>>>    2. If customers choose not to accept a change in ToS what redress
>>>>    do they have given that perhaps the provider is the only one available in
>>>>    their area.
>>>>    3. Finally, given that we know this could all be avoided if there
>>>>    was more competition in the fibre market, what is the CA doing to make it
>>>>    so that we have more competition in that area? It's concerning that
>>>>    Safaricom seems to only option for home connections in several places
>>>>
>>>>  Determined by the market and economic forces. Just the other day,
>>> Safaricom was not in the home fibre market. What they have provided are
>>> more options for consumers. Numbers are stubborn facts. Fixed data
>>> subscription is as follows: Data source CA, July -September 2020 period,
>>> page 19
>>> https://ca.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-Statistics-Report-Q1-2020-2021.pdf
>>>  Safaricom PLC 229,406 subscribers, 35.6% market share
>>> Wananchi Group (Kenya) Ltd* 202,237 subscribers , 31.4 35.6% market
>>> share
>>>  Jamii Telecommunications Ltd 127,914  subscribers , 19.8 Poa  % market
>>> share
>>>  Internet Kenya Ltd 56,824  subscribers ,8.8% market share
>>>  Mawingu Networks Ltd 11,087 subscribers, 1.7 % market share
>>>  Internet Solutions Kenya Ltd 9,228  subscribers, 1.4 % market share
>>>
>>> Consumers are speaking with their wallets.
>>>
>>> As a policy discussion list, probably what we should be asking is what
>>> is the fair cost for certain broadband packages, and whether there is
>>> anything that can be really unlimited. Wearing my competent network
>>> engineer hat, I can tell you even at Safaricom, they don't have unlimited
>>> bandwidth. Bandwidth is a limited resource to the extent of the network
>>> devices, network media, and cost of acquiring and delivering that bandwidth
>>> to your edge device.
>>>
>>> Best Regards
>>> ______________________
>>> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Sidney
>>
>> *Twitter:* @princelySid <https://twitter.com/princelySid> | *Web: *
>> sidneyochieng.co.ke
>> *Skype: *sidney.ochieng | *Github:* princelySid
>> <https://github.com/princelySid>
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> 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
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