I will respond both an an economist, then as a tech person, since im both. One, the size of the Kenyan market is small. We should encourage more companies to grow big and fight it ugly in the international arena. Like Equity, Family Bank, Seven Seas, Symphony, etc, etc, so that our economy can grow in size. Small people focus on small problems. Safaricom is a small player in Africa, its not even a quarter of MTN. So when I see a government breaking down a small company, I get sad. As an entrepreneur, year in year out we have invested such that I, particularly, have nothing financially to talk of, because by investing, jobs are created. I want to see our company grow. I take nothing home hoping that one day we will be a big regional player. All my efforts are geared on the bigger picture, a large innovative organization able to support the economy, and reward our staff and partners for their loyalty. As all of us already know, all the telecoms providers apart from don't declare profits, apart from Safaricom. Airtel has been sold numerous times, has never declared a profit, yet it was a bigger company than Safaricom. The French and Indians have figured out how to make money without declaring profits, look, Telkom Kenya has been fraudulently loosing government shares (our shares) through their partner Orange so that TKL can be sold entirely as a french operation. They look east and west, while we look south, they steal from us. Look at what Indians did to KDN before selling to Liquid Telecom. These companies are here to steal and not to grow Kenya. If they don't pay taxes like other companies, if they don't support the economy by declaring profits (by paying expatriate staff reasonably thereby having something for the locals), if they don't support the economy by continuously investing and training personnel, if they keep paying handsomely the expatriates who know nothing about the local market and underpay Kenyans, let them close down. I THREW my lovely Airtel line when I realized: 1. I keep on loosing data bundles 2. Funny machines keep calling me at night so that im in trouble with my wife 3. Their offers begin but disappear without notice, the price increasing without notice 4. Most of the areas I travel to have no clear signal 5. MPesa is convenient, I can save the day for my relative anywhere in this country, I too can be saved while in trouble without sweating. 6. Data is a problem, I never know which plan I will be on 7. Airtel Money is free, but is there guarantee that the services will remain free for the foreseeable future? When will the free offer end? Do Kenyans really value "Free" or do they want some freedom? As for Orange Telkom, advertising sells. But when you advertise a product and kill it the next month its as bad as it can get. I kept being called by our clients that had bought black box machines, very many of them. People who had invested in the CDMA because their areas of operation are underserved by Telkom Kenya. We did expensive PBX solutions, they invested in airtime to keep their investments running. Without reasonable and sufficient notice, Telkom Orange killed the service. They have the fastest internet with a lot of gaps, across the country. But who knows? If the Skunks don't know, pray heaven who else knows? The experience should be seamless as nothing short of that will backfire. Orange money is literary non existent, apart from the "Money" bit, I don't know where a single Orange Money agent can be found. If all women or men are avoiding you, however handsome or beautiful you are, the solution will definitely be in the mirror. No one should be forced to be with the person they don't love. I'm sorry to say this, but Kenyans distaste these companies until the day they will know how to woo us. Kenyans are peculiar, thats why Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America. We know what works for us, and we go for it, however costly. Let me tell you a story. I love locomotives, im very much in love with the railway. In fact im very excited with the SGR. Once in a while I make a deliberate attempt to use the trains, and in the many decades I have been an adult, I keep going there to experience the ride. Let me just say those RVR things are nothing more than expensive rolling stock, they charge high, the service extremely poor, the trains are always very late or never leave at all. Or they brake down along the way. When I was young and KR was a government service, everything was beautiful. I lived near a railway halt, it was always rosy, until RVR came. That's how Kenya Railways was killed, by selling it to expatriates. See, KR has no competitors, yet it cant declare a profit. Thats why I have a problem with that law. And so even if Safaricom is broken down, and with these expatriates that have learned the art of tax avoidance, and loss making, and poor remuneration of locals, we will always bleed our income. At least the contribution of Safaricom is there for everyone to see. I rest my case, as a layman. PO On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 10:44 PM, Jared Koyier via skunkworks < skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
There's nothing wrong with Safaricom being declared the dominant player in the market however there will be a problem when upon declaration of dominance if Safaricom abuses that position through anticompetitive behavior. This as per law that was passed would attract a fine not less than 10% of Safcom gross turnover. Safaricom's objection to being declared the dominant player is because even without the tag of dominance it already exhibits anti competitive antics. In the European markets a player is considered dominant if either individually or jointly with others, it enjoys a position of economic strength affording it the power to behave to an appreciable extent independently of competitors, customers and ultimately Consumers".