<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div>@Mwendwa and all</div><div><br></div><div>it looks like that's what the consultant is suggesting.</div><div><br></div><div>Here are two other excerpts from the report that I find interesting:-</div><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>The most draconian of the prescriptions is the proposal to functionally separate M-Pesa from Safaricom. This is tantamount to proposing a break-up of Safaricom because in terms of growth revenues, M-Pesa is on track to reach 50 per cent of the company’s net revenues. The consultants have also proposed what they call “mandatory wallet-to wallet interoperability”, a system where a consumer can keep cloud accounts across the platforms of different mobile companies, making it possible to move and shift money between accounts as one chooses</b>.</span></div><div><br></div><div>I have said before and I'm happy to repeat this again. Separating M-Pesa from Safaricom should not be forced on Safaricom. In my humble opinion Safaricom should by now have done this voluntarily as a strategic imperative to transform itself into the De-Facto National (Regional) Mobile Payment System. I think the lost opportunity here can be seen by the KBA launching a rival Mobile Platform called PesaLink.</div><div><br></div><div>The mandatory 'Wallet to Wallet' interoperability is an interesting angle and needs to seriously be considered. This sort of compliments my point above.</div><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>They have also recommended a system that they call “agent to agent interoperability”, where agents will be able to support multiple mobile money platforms using what is described in technical language as “a single float”.</b></span><br><br>This is certainly interesting. In as much as this supports the notion of 'User or Customer Experience' I think the Regulator and the Telcos should work towards ensuring this becomes a reality. In essence this could be a solution to the allegations that Safaricom discourages its agent network from dealing with rival Telcos. </div><div><br></div><div>Lastly, I would largely concur with Jaindi Ksero's conclusion (sort of) that the Consultant<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> has displayed a lack of knowledge in the functioning of our national payments system. I would however like to add one for the road:-</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Are our Regulators (CA, CAK and CBK) prepared to empower, grow and regulate with a light touch the seemingly fluid Telco, Banking, Payments and Fintech Spaces while ensuring that:-</span></div><div><br></div><div>a) They embrace innovation and new thinking while protecting National Interests and consumers at the same time?</div><div><br></div><div>b) They work together without resorting to Turf Wars as evidenced in the tiff between the CA and the CAK in 2015.</div><div><a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Competition--telecoms-watchdogs-to-seek-truce-over-Safaricom-/539550-2707286-lqu5sez/index.html">http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Competition--telecoms-watchdogs-to-seek-truce-over-Safaricom-/539550-2707286-lqu5sez/index.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>c) They consider creating a Joint Task Force to monitor, encourage and empower players in the spaces mentioned to become Regional and Global Players? I have often wondered aloud about the CBK's core mandate of protecting Depositors' funds and wondered (again aloud) whether this mandate is outdated and that it should be expanded to that of becoming an empowering public entity that encourages research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the burgeoning convergence of Banking, Telcos, Payments and Fintech Spaces.</div><div>d) Regulatory tools need to be rebooted and upgraded to reflect the times. The current scenarios are such that one doesn't even know anymore which industry one operates in.</div><div><br></div><div>This is a plea for the Regulation Mandates to drastically change and embrace the now and the future. </div><div><br></div><div>Can the Future Czars step up? </div><div><br></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);"><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><div><br>On 21 Feb 2017, at 11:12 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>So technically, we want to break up Safaricom so that these companies</span><br><span>can gain some traction "Airtel, has made cumulative debt to date of</span><br><span>Sh51 billion, according to latest audited accounts for the financial</span><br><span>year 2015. Indeed, in the league of loss makers, only Kenya Airways,</span><br><span>with their Sh54 billion lost in the most recent years, compares to</span><br><span>Airtel. As a matter of fact, the numbers in the company’s annual</span><br><span>accounts show that Airtel is insolvent and only surviving on life</span><br><span>support from the parent company in India. Safaricom’s only other</span><br><span>rival, Orange Telkom, has gone through exceedingly difficult trading</span><br><span>and financial conditions over the past decade. This a firm that is</span><br><span>technically insolvent. It has gone through several episodes of</span><br><span>restructuring that have not materially changed its circumstances."</span><br><span>______________________</span><br><span>Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya</span><br><span><a href="http://twitter.com/lordmwesh">twitter.com/lordmwesh</a></span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>On 21 February 2017 at 23:48, Grace Githaiga via kictanet</span><br><span><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:</span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Jaindi Kisero gives us a glimpse of the competition study in the</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>telecommunication sub-sector undertaken by Ms Analysys Mason on behalf of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>CA. See full article:</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>"I recently came across a report by the consulting group Analysys Mason</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>entitled "A telecommunication competition market study in Kenya". Readers</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>will recall that these consultants were retained by the market regulator –</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>the Communications Authority of Kenya – to conduct a study whose results</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>were to inform the crafting of a new framework for regulating abuse of</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>market dominance by the big players.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>As expected, one of the key findings of this study is that Safaricom’s</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>market share in both the mobile communications and mobile money segments far</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>exceed the thresholds where firms are typically presumed to be dominant."</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/consumer-protection-a-means-of-cutting-safaricom-dominance/440808-3822560-jsmlpbz/index.html">http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/consumer-protection-a-means-of-cutting-safaricom-dominance/440808-3822560-jsmlpbz/index.html</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Best regards</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Githaiga, Grace</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Co-Convenor</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Twitter:@ggithaiga</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Tel: 254722701495</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Skype: gracegithaiga</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Alternate email: <a href="mailto:ggithaiga@hotmail.com">ggithaiga@hotmail.com</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Linkedin: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga">https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="http://www.kictanet.or.ke">www.kictanet.or.ke</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>"Change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged and come</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>together to demand it. I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>bring about change – but in yours"---Barrack Obama.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>kictanet mailing list</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/kictanet">http://twitter.com/kictanet</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/">https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Unsubscribe or change your options at</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kivuva%40transworldafrica.com">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kivuva%40transworldafrica.com</a></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>regulation. 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