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Hi, I write this because I’m a consumer of the services of
most telcos including the two discussed here (Zain and Safaricom). As a consumer,
all I need is to get a quality service at a low cost. Competition is one way of
achieving this and as such the on going competition is welcomed. As Armstrong puts it[1], a
good competition policy is one that delivers well-functioning markets,
something which requires both a strong supply side and demand side. Vigorous competition provides best protection
to consumers requiring only minimal legal consumer protection. However, in some markets consumers do not always
obtain a good deal, even when substantial competition is present, and in such
cases additional policies to aid consumers have a role to play. Competition may
fail to work well due to imperfect information to consumers and higher advertisement
cost. From the foregoing, advertisement cost is fair to all telcos. But we need
fair competition for consumer benefit. In my opinion however, the above advert (google ad) isn’t a fair
attack on Safaricom. Each telcos is know to consumers vide some de facto colour
blends and all will agree green is Safaricom, black and orange for Telkom Kenya
i.e….I get a shop painted green….I quickly think of Safaricom. I get orange and
black shop I think Telkom Kenya etc. In general, we need fair competition. We need quality
services. Unfair competition will not only make the telco industry strained and
worthless but also expose consumers to poor quality. My c2 cents Regards, Okech JM My blog--- On Sat, 9/11/10, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com> wrote:
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