<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><br><br><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><b>Ali Hussein</b></span></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">+254 770 906375 / 0713 601113</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Twitter: @AliHKassim</span></p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font></font></span><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Skype: abu-jomo</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></a></span></p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font></font></span><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></p><font><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Blog: <a href="http://www.alyhussein.com/" target="_blank">www.alyhussein.com</a></span><br></font></div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><br></span></div><div>"I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots". ~ Albert Einstein</div><div><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><br></span></div>Sent from my iPad</div><div><br>On Feb 25, 2015, at 3:09 AM, "<a href="mailto:rsohan@gmail.com">rsohan@gmail.com</a>" <<a href="mailto:rsohan@gmail.com">rsohan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 12:03 PM, Ali Hussein <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank">ali@hussein.me.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">What you are advocating is to punish Safaricom for out innovating the competition. </span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Nope. Never said that. My email was super-clear. </div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>It was implied. <br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">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.<br></span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#Monopoly_and_efficiency">long term.</a> This is the point that Airtel and a bunch of other people (including small startups, external companies and quangos) have made. </div><div><br></div><div>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). </div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></blockquote>History has shown that markets usually take care of bullies and that regulation alone has never been the silver bullet that we think it is. <br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><br>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. </span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><div>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.</div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>A strong governance and private sector partnership is required to actualize this. Call it Commercial Diplomacy. Most successful western and eastern countries make this a cornerstone of their global engagement. That's what I'm suggesting we do. <br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">We must emulate Japan & other Asian Giants. Policy and regulation must as a matter of course favor local companies.</span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>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. </div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>I mean the illusion that the world is a free democratic commercial space is just that. An illusion.<br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"> I make no apologies for this last point - Free markets are a dream perpetuated by foreign interests with the end game of dominance.</span></p><span class=""><ul style="margin:5px 35px 5px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:none"></ul><br></span></div></div></blockquote><div>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? </div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>To my point above.<br><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div><span class=""><div><span><b>Ali Hussein</b></span></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:medium"><a href="tel:%2B254%20770%20906375" value="+254770906375" target="_blank">+254 770 906375</a> / 0713 601113</div><div style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:medium"><br></div><div><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Twitter: @AliHKassim</span></p><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font></font></span><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Skype: abu-jomo</span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration:none"></span></a></span></p><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><font></font></span><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"></p><font><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Blog: <a href="http://www.alyhussein.com/" target="_blank">www.alyhussein.com</a></span><br></font></div><div><span><br></span></div><div>"I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots". ~ Albert Einstein</div><div><span><br></span></div>Sent from my iPad</span></div><span class=""><div><br>On Feb 24, 2015, at 11:14 AM, "<a href="mailto:rsohan@gmail.com" target="_blank">rsohan@gmail.com</a>" <<a href="mailto:rsohan@gmail.com" target="_blank">rsohan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div dir="auto"><div><br></div><div>As Bob Collymore aptly put it - Being dominant is not a crime.</div><div><br></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>But using you dominance to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law" target="_blank">stifle</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp." target="_blank">competition</a> and <a href="https://www.publicknowledge.org/files/The%20Case%20Aganst%20the%20UMG-EMI%20Merger.pdf" target="_blank">innovation</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/21/european-parliament-break-up-of-google" target="_blank">is</a>, which is the point that is being made.</div></div><br></div></div>
</div></blockquote></span></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>
</div></blockquote></body></html>