Innovation is good, monopoly is baad. I don't see a reason why we will complain of Kenya Power's monopoly while cheering another player to attain the same position. Me thinks regulation is a good thing. It may not be about breaking up Safaricom but being put to task to operate within acceptable standards will be fair to consumers.On Sun, Jul 12, 2015 at 6:58 PM, John K. via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:Speaking as someone who "ported" to airtel for a while, I agree with @Peter, their service sucks. So many parts of Nairobi have no clear signal (inside nakumatt prestige for example), also out of town forget 3G (and in many small towns Internet all together), and on long stretches of road you are virtually guaranteed no network. They do not deserve to be protected at all, they need to up their game and fight it out, same way T-Mobile and other smaller companies are fighting AT & T etc. I do not see how Safaricom is using their market position to stifle competition.Regards,John K.On 12 July 2015 at 14:48, Stephen Munguti via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:Safaricom is a very small company, in comparison to Bharti and China Telecom. The last price war they faced made them emerge leaner and more efficient and now they are a well oiled machine. It will be difficult to bring them down on a fair ground. I am all for fair competition, let people reap that which they sow.@ Peter OsotsiCan I send you my CV.On Sat, Jul 11, 2015 at 8:54 PM, Peter Osotsi via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:_______________________________________________Let me add that to me it seems its easier for Airtel to gain market share in the corrupt riddled government institutions, than in the open marketplace where innovation and brand loyalty thrives.
They'd rather perpetuate a vice that is anathema to this nation, a cancer that has refused to wane, than face Safaricom in the court of public opinion. Boardroom decisions in government offices have given our state officers access to unbridled wealth and power through corruption, the Indians know it well.
Let me give them my word, they will fail. Their brand has to reflect our pride, loyalty and ambition. So far, not even their employees, most of them, especially those contact centre employees, or IT staff, exude their brand. Pray how does other Kenyans own such a brand?
Pray, why do we have anti corruption bill board messages outside government offices yet inside deals are cutting left, centre, right and so on. Do we even have faith in the decisions these institutions make?
They have killed registered legitimate brewers just like the killer brews that come from the neighbourhoods which are run mostly by the governments own employees.
So we have amputated the foot just because the foot has a jigger! How sad!
PO
On Jul 11, 2015 1:48 PM, "Peter Osotsi" <peter.osotsi@gmail.com> wrote: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.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.I THREW my lovely Airtel line when I realized: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.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.
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.
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?
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.
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.POOn 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".
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