Erick,
Maybe in 2000 it was possible. Cant tell for sure if he
was serious or fibbed on that one but pricesw in 2000 and prices now are miles
apart.
Generally I think he handled himself well. Doesn’t strike
me as the kind of man who can be talked into a fix!
Message: 3
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:00:44 +0300
From: Erick Njenga <eriknjenga@gmail.com>
To: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>
Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Snippets from Michael joseph
Reflections!
Message-ID:
<AANLkTikndiOUQxYV0Jg=pMKGcu8btR1hwPnJ2joPPn+_@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="windows-1252"
I streamed the talk and IMHO it was excellent. Just
wondering out of curiosity which switch goes for 10m USD.
On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 4:43 PM, Joel Musungu <nabiimfalme@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Skunk(ette)s,
>
>
>
> He came, we saw and we heard and it was good.
>
>
>
> It wasn?t raw and edgy but it was really insightful and
eye/ear popping.
>
>
>
> Here are a few snippets:
>
>
>
> MJ Says:
>
>
>
> ?INHERITED TELKOM INFRastructure.
>
> Old and almost useless network switch was in
extelkoms house.
>
> Zain started in feb then launched in august in
august 2000 but
> safaricom had been operational for some years and
had a staff of 55
> that he had to inherit.
>
> 5 new hires and 55 old safcom staff from tkl
in norfolk towers flat
>
> mj is an engineer
>
> vodafone inv 20mill usd ata time when one
switch was 10mill usd
>
> Went with prepaid billing system because they
couldn?t afford a
> postpaid platform, in hindsight a good decision. The
prepaid billing
> platform was only 200kUSD
>
> Billed per sec when per minute would have made more
sense, gut
> instinct made MJ choose per second billing even
though he needed the
> 25% extra revenues that come from having a per
Minute billing. A good
> gut decision in hindsight though at that moment it
was thought to be a
> mistake to go per second.
>
> He decided to hire 200 fresh out of campus to
provide free customer
> service- turned out to be a good decision as most
people would not
> read any manuals or handouts. They fielded as many
calls about the
> then Kencell as they did about their own service.
>
> Bought low cost Motorola phones to start and it was
almost a disaster
> as they were overcharged and the service was low on
the Moto end.
>
> Launched on Oct 23rd 2000. On Monday following the
network collapsed
> due to an mimproperly configured database.
>
> In june 2001 overtook kencell in market share.
Needed to borrow more money.
> Paperwork took a whole year to get the money.
Shareholders wouldn?t
> sign guarantees so the network was its own security
guarantee.
>
> Continued aggressive selling but lacked capacity to expand
the network
> while waiting for funds. This led to congestion.
>
> Switch was paid and installed in 10 days.
>
> Huge mistake:
>
> ?
Awarded the loyal customers with a 200KES giveaway but due to
> Dial UP from Dubai it went horribly wrong and people
were up at 3am
> calling and congesting the network for a whole 5
days network was super congested.
> Lessons learned: do not surprise your customers and
Use local based
> companies as far as possible.
>
> ?
Free calls after 9pm- another congestion causing fiasco starting
> at 9.01 pm.
>
> Safaricom has an R&D development team of over 40
members and a web
> portal for ideas submission. Most of the local hits
are not originally
> kenyan ideas. Sambaza originated in Egypt and
Sudan.
>
> Mpesa was uk developed and coded by vodafone and
rolled out in kenya
> on a test basis as a proof of concept. This was done
in Thika first
> as a microfinance loan payback method but quickly
expanded into its present role.
> Support servers are based in UK and Frankfurt
Germany.
>
> Reached one million in 2003, 2mill 2004 and 16.5
million currently and
> growing by half a million every month. Revenue
is down by upto 40 %.
>
> BTSs must payback max of 1yr or in 6 months unless
they are wrongly
> placed or are microwave only sites. Site by site
revenue is reviewed
> every six months in terms of originating and
terminating revenue.
>
> Safaricom has 60 green sites. Looking at
new ways of cooling the
> batteries by burying them as this is 25% of cost of
running a BTS.
> Originated revenue as well as terminated revenue are
used to evaluate
> a BTS location. 2600 base stations total and
growing.. Physical
> maintenance is outsourced. 5000 generators in
the network to power
> the BTS. Remote sites have high vandalism and
security is a high
> concern as they all cannot be manned sites.
>
> Michael Joseph says
>
> "Revenue share: safcom shud get the
majority of the revenue share.
> Our customer. Our distribution costs. Our
infrastructure. We stand to
> lose the most and gain the least in case you are not
successfull.
> Therefore we will have a great and better share of
the revenue. In the
> case of Skiza, we didnt believe the model will work
therefore we gave
> them a whole lions share of revenue but they had to
invest all their
> own funds and simply ride on our network. they are a
great success and
> a good example of where revenue share favours the
other party."
>
> "Mpesa is launching pay at the till at Uchumi
supermarkets on Friday
> 22nd October. Retail banking is going to be a
dinosaur in 10 years
> time. MPesa is now the biggest form of paying school
fees. Orange
> money, YU cash and zap are thinking its about money
but in truth it is
> all about providing a service and profit will come
in at its own time."
>
> Average kenyan calls only 3.2 people so friends and
family circle is
> limited to 3.2. friends and family tariff will not
work here hence the
> tactical withdrawal of the tariff quietly by
Orange.This is one way
> orange made a huge mistake.
>
> You must have a measured and tactile response to
disruptive tactics
> and that is why safaricom is slow and measured in
responding to the
> Price wars as they are playing out.
>
> ?
>
>
>
>
>
> When the righteous Prosper, The City rejoices but
when the wicked
> perish there are shouts of JOY
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Skunkworks mailing list
> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks
> ------------
> Skunkworks Rules
> http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94
> ------------
> Other services @ http://my.co.ke
>
--
Thanks and Regards,
Erick Njenga Nyachwaya,
M: +254-725-008-790
<http://www.facebook.com/ErickNjenga>
<http://www.twitter.com/ErickNjenga>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.my.co.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/attachments/20101020/ad5bd53e/attachment.htm>
--
Warm
regards,
Joel Musungu
Head of
Projects
Technical
Sales Department
Email:
musungu@mobicom.co.ke
Tel: (254) 772-580017
Web:
www.mobicom.co.ke
Fax: (254) 20-311-491
