<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Ngigi</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Good observations. I'd repeat what I said a few months ago:-</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Even though we celebrate Mpesa's Payment 'Dominance' let me make the following observations:-</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">1. Over 90% of transactions are still in cash. Even in the US and Europe cash still makes a significant part of transactions. So the issue of Mpesa's Dominance doesn't even come into play. We overemphasize this Dominance maybe to make ourselves feel good as Kenyans? :-) #JustSaying </div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">2. There is NO dominant global player in payments. Not Visa, Not Mastercard, Not even PayPal. The space is simply too fragmented. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">3. If I were Safaricom/Vodaphone I'd already have spurn off Mpesa as a standalone company and exploited its merits to the full. The first one would be to make it totally Network Agnostic and super UX so that we simply don't think of anything else. The second would be to convince Vodaphone that the home of Mpesa is not London but Nairobi so bring it back to Ground Zero of innovation in Africa and seriously exploit it as a Platform/Bank and invite all and sundry to plug into the platform and listen to the increased sounds of CHING CHING!! :-)</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">4. On the matter of Microsoft and all other supposed Monopolies I have this to say:-</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">This is 2017. Not even Governments are strong enough to defy markets. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Enough said.<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><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.294118); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.231373);"><b>Principal</b></span></div><div><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hussein & Associates</b></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 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></span></p><font><br></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle</span></div><div><br></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 30 Jan 2017, at 10:20 AM, Ngigi Waithaka <<a href="mailto:ngigi@at.co.ke">ngigi@at.co.ke</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Ali,<br><br></div>Analyzing why Safaricom has dominated this market in such Key areas as Mobile Telephony, Payment Services etc is probably something that would qualify for a PHD thesis.<br><br></div>Here's what I know though:<br></div>1. Are Safaricom's Customers happy? Answer is, do they have a choice? Go back to Microsoft's heyday, were you actually really happy with Windows '98? Did you have a *choice*?<br><br></div>2. Yes, Safaricom could have better services than Airtel & Telkom, although I doubt, having been a user of both Safaricom & Airtel over 15yrs. Even if they were better, how do you reconcile that they are maybe 4 times the size of the rest of the competition? Are they 4x better than say Airtel? I doubt.<br><br></div>Now, onto things MPesa, I think Safaricom does MPesa a great injustice of not spinning it off. I want MPesa (with all its associated services) on my Airtel line.<br><br></div><div>MPesa needs to be listed on NASDAQ! MPesa needs to be the third choice globally after VISA & Mastercard!<br><br></div><div>But there's the not so small matter of who actually owns MPesa!<br></div><div><br></div>Onto matters regulation, if I was CBK, I would be very concerned if one such firm had that much 'power' over the money transfer market.<br><br></div>Rgds<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 9:10 AM, 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:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>Ngigi </div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">:-)</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">The issue of Mobitelea aside (because we will really never know how that went down) Safaricom is simply better at everything:-</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">1. Their lobbying is simply superior and a thing of beauty to watch. Lobbying is an acceptable practice the world over. Please don't complain when your competitor is doing a better job at it than you..</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">2. Which industry is Safaricom in? Energy? (Mkopa Solar with 500k subscribers simply won't have existed without the symbiotic relationship they have with Mpesa. And Safaricom skims off the top as per agreement); Banking? CBA without Mshwari is a shell; Payments? Lipa na Mpesa is giving Visa and Mastercard a run for their money; TV? Zuku is about to feel real competition. And the list goes on.</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">3. I'm keen to see the Dominance Report because I think we need to expand our thinking. I don't believe there is anyone today who has Dominance in any particular area at least not in the traditional way we have defined Dominance.</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">4. The thing of course to watch is abuse of Market Dominance. And this in itself a slippery slop. Once The US Government tried to break up Microsoft. What the Government couldn't do the Market did. Free Markets are the greatest equalizer.</div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_8192465918985157070AppleMailSignature">Let us be careful what we wish for. In as long as the customer is generally happy we have nothing to fear. <span class=""><br><br><div><span><b>Ali Hussein</b></span></div><div><span><b>Principal</b></span></div><div><b style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">Hussein & Associates</b></div></span><div style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:medium">+254 0713 601113 </div><span class=""><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.<wbr>com/in/alihkassim</a></span></p><font><br></font></div></span><span class=""><div><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)">"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle</span></div><div><br></div><div><span><br></span></div>Sent from my iPad</span></div><div><div class="h5"><div><br>On 30 Jan 2017, at 8:29 AM, Ngigi Waithaka <<a href="mailto:ngigi@at.co.ke" target="_blank">ngigi@at.co.ke</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><p dir="ltr">Ali,</p>
<p dir="ltr">The only palatable End Game; Equitel buys off Airtel Kenya, combines it with Helios stake @Telkom</p>
<p dir="ltr">Massive innovation thereafter would get back some respectable market share.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Truth be told, Safaricom's cozzyiness with GoK has helped it along big time. I dare say if Kencell has ceded 10% to Mobitelea, as Safaricom was more than glad to do, we'd probably be speaking a different story right now!</p>
<p dir="ltr">What these foreign firms investing in Africa need to remember is.......</p>
<p dir="ltr">THIS IS AFRICA!</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 28 Jan 2017 8:40 a.m., "Ali Hussein via kictanet" <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><wbr>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">Listers</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">Another one bites the dust?</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">I'm really curious as to whats going on in the Telco sector.</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">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.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">The telecom operator is faced with poor performance across those markets. Two years ago, <a href="http://mobilityarena.com/airtel-not-exiting-africa-despite-talks-to-sell-4-networks-to-orange/" style="font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">when Airtel began talks to sell off its operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone to Orange</a>, the company had stated that it wouldn’t be exiting Africa.</font></p></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif"><a href="http://mobilityarena.com/airtel-exit-nigeria-13-african-countries/" target="_blank">Airtel plans Africa exit</a></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000" face="georgia, serif">Is the African market too competitive or is the regulatory environment skewed towards a few players?</font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div><div class="m_8192465918985157070m_-5791904895753179148gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="2" face="georgia, serif">Ali
Hussein</font></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><font size="2" face="georgia, serif">Principal</font></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2" face="georgia, serif"><b>Hussein & Associates</b></font></p><font size="2">
</font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"> </font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span>T<font size="2">el: +254 713 60<font size="2">1113</font></font><br></span></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span>Twitter: @AliHKassim</span><span></span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">
</span></font><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span>Skype: abu-jomo</span></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span>LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alih<wbr>kassim</a></span><a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"></span></a></span></font></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></span></font></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black">13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,</span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:arial"></span></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black">Chiromo Road, Westlands,</span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:arial"></span></p><p style="font-size:small;margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:georgia;color:black">Nairobi, Kenya.</span></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span><br><font size="1">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.</font></span></span></font><span style="font-family:"baskerville old face",serif;font-size:11pt"></span><span style="font-size:11pt"></span>
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