@Edith, Good questions. Super profits are supposed to be good since they would signal to investors to jump into the Kenyan Market. However, as you note, our Kenyan telco market, particularly the Data /Internet side is largely a "duopoly" with Safaricom taking 73% of the internet market with the "Others" sharing out the 27% market share. Obviously the "others" have failed to break Safaricoms dominant position and it is clear the reason why users dont migrate to "others" despite occasional price wars is their killer and globally renowned application "MPESA". As a very smalltime investor in Safaricom, I have no problem with the super-profits, but I do have a problem with the fact that as a country, we are not getting Internet Services that are affordable, high-quality and geographically widely available. I know the latest CCK reports show that 16million of Kenyans use the internet (one of the highest % of population in Africa) but the same report says only 1million are on broadband quality of internet. This means that usage is restricted to light tasks such as email, twitter, facebook but unlikely to get into say Telecommuting, Videoconferencing, High-end research that requires massive movement of big-data, etc. So Price and Quality amidst Super profits are the challenges the Regulator must face squarely. walu. ________________________________ From: Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.ca> To: jwalu@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet - Media Editors Forum <mediaeditors@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; Alison Gillwald <agillwald@researchictafrica.net>; Christoph Stork <christoph.stork@googlemail.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 12:35 PM Subject: Re: [mediaeditors] [kictanet] Safaricom's Super Profits Barrack and Ngethe, I think otherwise. The super-profits seem to arise NOT from "real productivity gains" or "reward from entrepreneurship" but from monopolizing access to the market (e.g. mpesa has tied people to Safaricom; consumer behavior of not shifting despite number portability or poor quality of service as Barrack points out or high price of service or the availability of other money transfer options – etc etc etc). Here is where the “PECULIAR” behavior of Kenyans needs to be unearthed – We need to “peel off the mask” if I can borrow those words. So this has created some ARTIFICIAL “exclusivity” of Safaricom products creating monopolistic or oligopolistic tendencies in the Kenyan telecom market. So you cannot entirely blame Safaricom for this state of affairs, we need to get to the “kernel” of the issue to understanding why the Kenyan market seems to be so unique and consumer prices are just not coming down!! (maybe Kenya is not alone?) I would really like to hear from Research ICT Africa who have been carrying out consistent research studies (for the last 10 years or more) comparatively examining over 22 telecom markets in Africa (including Kenya) under the title “Telecommunication Sector Performance Reviews” (http://www.researchictafrica.net/publications.php) – our own Prof. Waema, Muriuki Mureithi, Dr Adeya have been leading the Kenyan studies. I have also copied Christorph Stork and Alison Gilwald, why Kenya is different? Would also be great to hear from Matano (CCK)? Edith -----Original Message----- From: ngethe.kariuki2007@yahoo.co.uk [mailto:ngethe.kariuki2007@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: May 18, 2013 11:48 AM To: Edith Adera; kictanet Cc: KICTAnet - Media Editors Forum; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom's Super Profits Edith,Listers, Interesting questions raised.The results are not entirely unexpected and that is why,inter alia, CCK and Competition Authority were established. John Kariuki Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Edith Adera <eadera@idrc.ca> Sender: "kictanet" <kictanet-bounces+ngethe.kariuki2007=yahoo.co.uk@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: Sat, 18 May 2013 08:38:42 To: <ngethe.kariuki2007@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: KICTAnet - Media Editors Forum<mediaeditors@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom's Super Profits _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngethe.kariuki2007%40y... The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. 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