Author: Cyrus

When Airtel launched the much talked about Feelanga Free Everyday promotions, the CEO was categorical that the tariff was permanent and not promotional as thought out. But that story seems to be changing now that one of the operators (probably Orange) wrote to CCK to seek clarification of whether the new tariff by Airtel was a promotion or a permanent tariff. It is a promotion. The statement from the CCK Director General read “network operators are free to adopt business models that suit them. Matters of cost structures and profitability are therefore left for the determination of individual operators.  The…

I have always told The Standard group that the most useless department they have are their web content and design guys. These people knows nothing about websites for media houses and they have left The Standard to operate a website which looks like its is owned by some backstreet blogger or techie. But today, the website is facing challenges. Since yesterday, you could not visit the website with normal Safari browser security settings. Today, all browsers brings you an alert when you try to visit the website.

Yahoo it seems is giving up the battle to be the king of the internet which it was sometime back. The company is going the Myspace way of collaboration . Through a blog post on Flickr, Yahoo has announced that you can now login to your account with Facebook or Google accounts. Google started collaborating with Yahoo in October 2010. Yahoo is also said to be intending to collaborate with AOL, Twitter and Microsoft and allow Logins through those accounts. Until now, you had to register with Yahoo specific address to be able to login to any of the properties.…

Shit happens! There are instances where you would just love to stay away from some of the happenings in this city. But yesterday, Wednesday 19th January, was not one of the days you would have loved to experience what some of the pedestrians and motorists saw happening on Kenyan roads. 3 Cops were caught on Camera shooting at already subdued suspects after a dramatic chase on Lang’ata road. The cops must have been from the feared anti-robbery units like Flying Squad though reports say that they were from the CID (Criminal Investigations Department). I doubt. These looks as special squad…

Michael Ghossein was being interviewed by NTV’s Larry Madowo. I liked the interview though there many questions which the CEO was not asked. All in all MG was very categorical on many fronts including not responding to the challenges by Airtel, protecting jobs and also protecting the shareholders. The same line of argument has been fronted by Bob Collymore who is the CEO of Safaricom. But today, despite problems with English language, Orange CEO said that he thinks that Airtel is behaving like a vegetable company. Listen above. The CEO of Orange also said how the Average Revenue Per User…

Safaricom has finally unveilled the much tauted Huawei IDEOS U8150. I first had an experience in the last Safaricom Open Day where the Huawei stand had the IDEOS U8150 and S7. There was abit of a problem in getting much of an experience from there but a few phone calls helped easen the situation. The IDEOS U8150 was launched in September 2010 and boasts an Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS. It is a great phone with various cons like non support of flash. The phone also has plastic casing and that we understand was to keep the price down. Infact I…

Once again the Government appears to be taking sides in the wars between Telecom companies.   From ongoing media reports, it appears that the Government favours Safaricom over Airtel. This is not surprising in view of Government shareholding stake in Safaricom. It appears that the Government is at crossroads: Does it defend its investment in Safaricom and therefore use its might to stifle competition or does it take the noble route and do what is best for the consuming public.   Businessmen are rational beings and it is hard to believe the spin that Airtel’s prices are not sustainable. Airtel…

I have been following with interest the story and technology behind DSTV’s mobile dongle called Drifta. The device is a DVB-H receiver which is smaller than your average smartphone and comes with 9 channels though it can support 15. It currently retails only in South Africa but will soon be available to other countries. I have called MultiChoice Kenya office a few times and even the PR and Communications manager doesn’t have much of a clue what this device really is. There is a disconnect here.

According to an article in Daily Nation, PS Ndemo is quoted as saying he fears that the new price wars will derail the new constitution. This is laughable. Everybody blames the new constitution on everything including making their donkey refuse to fart regularly. And the fact that PS Ndemo has apparently instructed CCK to intervene is some kind of very dangerous idea. Lets wake up and not be taken back by people bent on seeing the citizens exploited. Who is playing Safaricom and Orange’s propagandist? Just because the government is a shareholder in Safaricom and Orange does not mean that…

Banking industry has metamorphosed into a critical player in the development in Kenya and East Africa. But with development comes vices. The sector is rife with crimes through mobile and internet banking solutions. Mobile has penetrated alot and is cross-border. Monitoring the system is a big problem. Banking institutions faces also the threat of solutions like M-Pesa and mobile sacco solutions which try to bridge the gap between the banked and the un-banked. These challenges can only be effectively addressed when key industry leaders converge to brainstorm and share notes. There is no better forum for the same than the…

Safaricom has been testing its LTE for some months now. But the West Africa brotehrs have beaten us to the game. The Nigeria’s second-largest operator Globacom made a move into LTE. This has suprised many in the industry. The firm said that it is launching services for “demanding corporate customers and high data users.” The group Chief Operating Officer, Mohamed Jameel, said that although Globacom’s users could “already browse the internet or send e-mails using HSPA-enabled systems and send or receive video or music using G phones,” the experience with LTE would be “even better… It will further enhance more…

Orange Kenya seems to be spoiling for a fight with Airtel. Airtel is clearly not interested. Airtel must be seeing Orange as a minnow not worth fighting. Infact I think that Airtel would rather fight Yu but not Orange. In an advert in the Daily Nation, Orange uses the line “Dont just feel Free, Talk for Free”. Airtel launched a permanent tariff called Feelanga Free Everyday which seems to be the target of attack by Orange’s marketers. How it will pan out, we are still watching but we doubt if it will really have the effect on the mentality of…

Kenyans are very interesting. Do you really hate cops this way. A video which was shot by some guy, or is it a journo, in Nairobi has gone viral. The video is of a cop and lorry (truck) driver fighting. The cop seems to have been trying to arrest the lorry driver. The lorry driver was using every weapon available to him to resist arrest. He fought the cop with kicks, blows and stones and the public was enjoying it. I have had two big fight with cops. But the fights I have had is when cops try to use…

InMobi has again released its 3 month updated network research report providing a snapshot of mobile advertising trends in Africa between July 2010 and October 2010. InMobi’s VP of Global Research and Marketing says “Africa continues to be a major market in the global mobile ad ecosystem. With nearly 19% growth in mobile ad impression inventory in just 90 days, it’s clear Africans are increasingly connecting to the Internet via their mobile phone.  It will be interesting to keep an eye on this market as smartphone penetration increases”.

Airtel Kenya (formerly Zain) has today given the exploiters in the market a hard point to ponder. The company has lowered its voice charges further to KES1 (Yes One Bob). This move is going to cause jitters in the market and already the competitors might be feeling it hard. The Tariff is christened Feelanga Free Kilasiku (Feel Free everyday. Airtel Kenya Managing Director Rene Meza said the move had been taken as a conscious business decision in line with the firm’s strategy of offering affordable communications solutions to its customers.