Larry; I once worked for a prominent call centre on Mombasa Rd and it was just pathetic after 6 months.They never confirm your employment, are rude telling you there are thousands of job seekers out there inching for what you dont want and so on. I had to call in lawyers when my resignation letter wasn't honored. Their pay is pathetic, and after you wail and whine about why you need your terminal dues in the accountants office. Its not just here that things are bad. 90% of all our BPO's and EPZ's are teeming with utterly unhappy Kenyans who have no other person to run to, including Dr. Ndemo. Larry you could send those "Jicho Pevu" guys in your media house (well, I don't know what they are called in NMG) to survey, you'll be shocked! I know Airtel wants us to call at low rates, but again, just like the highway robbers and the police, when do we bargain for good service and low rates? How low are we to call cheaply when your graduate brother/sister/mom/dad/son is paid 15k after two months or more, sometimes going to work on foot several kilometers away on hungry stomach? What is the use for low call rates, when your suppliers are never paid until they lodge an official complain with lawyers and the police? What is the use when the said employer is appointed by the politico to Central Bank as a Director, with his house still smoking inefficiency? What is the use when the cheque once delivered the directors take a holiday abroad while staff go unpaid? Isn't this bad enough for Kenya? Airtel have to understand that in as much as we appreciate their 1 bob call, and the hullabaloo thats outsourcing, its not the panacea to our livelihoods. I still spend over 6k a month on calls, not a big difference (2 k to be precise) on what I used to spend a few months ago. 2k can't even settle my elec bill, 2k disappeared into the maze that is inefficient consumer delivery channels. I still spend several thousands more on my rent, water, food (now that the food shortage has started to bite), fuel, my children's school fees and so on. 2k is a drop in the pacific ocean. Government should come up with better ways of making the life of average Kenyans bearable than strangling the entire industry thats the livelihood of millions of people in the telecommunications supply chain. Im not against low calls in the industry, by the way, coz I can now comfortably call without looking at my account balance. But im not happy because I know down the telco food chain, someone is closing shop and the job loss will translate into a weaker purchasing power for the entire economy if not an extra thug in my neighborhood. If you can't calculate the multiplier effect of such an income change, call me I will demonstrate. Larry, we should not allow one player to play with the economy especially when its starting to show some signs of life. This economy in as much as is being touted as growing at 5%, if you use year 2002 as the base year, we are growing at around 2%, and when inflation is computed with the base as 5 year ago, thats in 2006, then we are having an annual inflation of around 32%. This is the tragedy of Kenya. Kenya is doing really badly on all fronts, its the wrong time to antagonize an entire supply chain at this time. The constitution that we passed requires massive revenues to translate into tangible gains for Kenyans. While, the gains made by Airtel will fly into India, Kenyans will be left with the bowl holding towards China, the IMF and the World Bank. I know that will happens sooner or later. But it will come to pass. Kenyans have to see through the tricks and make wise decisions. At Kes 2, thats the right equilibrium/optimal price, below that and bearing other factors being constant (bad governance, insecurity, bad communication infrastructure etc), the status quo should be maintained. My several cents on Airtel. Peter NB Im done with this discussion. On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:38 AM, Larry Madowo <larrymads@gmail.com> wrote:

Incidentally,

I interviewed Rene Meza yesterday (picture proof http://twitpic.com/3t9trw) for this Thursday's Money Matters and he says the feelanga free tariff ends in March, and they haven't decided whether it will be extended. Only that they haven't shared this info with consumers. Reminds me of something I heard somewhere: 'advertising is deceiving without lying.'

Also, about all the complaints of its outsourcing, he just says Airtel is not to blame for 'monopoly and inefficient telecom companies.' Am just gonna go ahead and plug the show by saying it's a very interesting interview and you can watch it this Thursday at 9.50pm on NTV.

LARRY

And some of us talking about demand and supply market forces, they only work in perfect markets, not imperfect markets like Kenya. The Kenyan economy doesn't show phenomenon described in economics books, rather, she has to be stimulated. She doesn't even respond to global shocks like other economies. We are still a "manual" economy where everything has to be done by hand - including stimulating the money markets. So the bullshit about market forces is nonsense as this applies only in perfectly competitive markets. Kenya is not one such marketplace. Peter On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:13 AM, milele forever <milele.forever@gmail.com>wrote:

The gova should keep off, let market forces work. And nobody will close shop but super profits will be wipped out which the worst that will happen. There will still be money to be made perhaps shared out more evenly.