On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 12:28 PM, waudo siganga<
emailsignet@mailcan.com> wrote:
> Hi Warigia - First sorry for missing ur big day due to some other commitment
> I had. I do not believe governments or governmental agencies should set
> consumer prices on anything. That is the work of market forces through
> competition. What governments need to do is ensure an environment that
> fosters competition. The example of ATT is from the old days when ATT was a
> monopoly operator. It reminds me of the 1998 Kenya Communications Act that
> gave monopoly status to Telkom Kenya in provision of some services such as
> landlines in Nairobi and international telephony. The mistaken rationale was
> that Telkom would rake in some "super profits" which would in turn be
> utilised in universal access provision. Needless to say those objectives
> were never attained. All along we prodded the Government to free the market
> through competition and private sector investment. When this happend as in
> the case of the mobile telephony sector the results in terms of better and
> more afrordable services were quick to manifest. Our argument in the case of
> universal access was that it was better for the Government to allow freedom
> in the market and then use fiscal instruments to raise funds from the
> IMPROVED, EXPANDED and CHEAPER services. This is being done today through a
> 10% excise tax on airtime and, believe me, most users do not even notice it.
>
> With the marine fibre I noticed what looked like cross-ownership and
> cross-interest in the different ventures and maybe that can have an effect
> on the competitive environment necessary to bring prices down significantly.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Waudo
>
>
> On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:21 +0300, "warigia bowman" <
warigia@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Brian
>
> Do you believe that ISPs in Kenya are sufficiently competitive to keep
> prices fair? I am just asking. I really do not know.
>
> What about the concern people have expressed that KDN has dropped prices
> dramatically to ISPs, but consumers are not seeing the benefit.
>
> By the way, it is WONDERFUL to hear from you!
>
> Rigia
>
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Brian Munyao Longwe <
blongwe@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Good point Warigia and the same applies here - CCK can and have exercised
> their authority to regulate voice pricing - this is especially true when
> there is either a monopoly or an operator with significant market share.
>
> The same does not apply to market sectors like Internet services because
> there is full competition and never any player with significant market
> share. In the USA - FCC have never regulated Internet or bandwidth pricing
> as market forces generally accomplish this.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Brian
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 11:11 AM, warigia bowman <
warigia@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear colleagues
>
> Rates of operators can and have been regulated, In fact, in the United
> States we had something called rate of return regulation when ATT was a
> monopoly. They were allowed to charge a high rate, but in exchange, they had
> to ensure every tiny village of even 200 had phone service. Why can't our
> operators do that?
>
> Sincerely, Warigia
>
> On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Walubengo J <
jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Alex,
>
> Your have rightly qaulified your solution - as simple. Indeed it is. Infact
> too simplistic to fly. The idea that the Regulator can reign in Operators
> who charge "high" internet rates cannot and will not work. Think about the
> in-famous SAT3 fiber link on the west coast of africa. Ask yourself why the
> Regulators in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, S-Africa etc have never
> stepped in and revoked licensces of operators over the last 15yrs of high
> internet costs offered on the fiber...
>
> The answers are very complex...I will actually be discussing these
> limitations and available interventions in some upcoming ICT conference at
> Strath University in Sept 09 and I dont want to pre-empt ;-)....
>
> walu.
>
>
> --- On Fri, 8/14/09, Gakuru Alex <
alexgakuru.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Gakuru Alex <
alexgakuru.lists@gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Fwd: the long fibre lie... Ndemo should resign
>> if internet prices do not drop as he promised!!
>> To: "Skunkworks forum" <
skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>
>> Date: Friday, August 14, 2009, 8:44 PM
>> On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 7:38 PM,
>> David Kiania | Asentric Consulting
>> Ltd<
kianiadee@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Set the precedence what's your solution? Am sure if
>> you did we'd have
>> > heard it by now. This thread is a knee jerk reaction
>> to a bad internet
>> > day, we all have one.
>> >
>>
>> Simple, the entity under Ndemo's docket that grants these
>> cowboy
>> operators licenses puts it's foot down and warn that I may
>> revoke
>> licenses for operators that charge waaaay up in the sky not
>> just above
>> cost but ABOVE acceptable international pricing benchmarks.
>> They've
>> all the data they need. Imagine, for example, Safaricom on
>> the verge
>> of losing their license, price drops, drops, drops, drops,
>> drops, and
>> drops..... across board.
>>
>> Would this be acceptable to you?
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>