Kenyan Telecoms Market Has Dominant Player Who Stifles Competition, Orange Kenya

Orange Kenya is not happy with the way things in the Telecoms market in Kenya. The integrated solutions provider is not happy at the way Communications Commission of Kenya which is the market regulator is handling the market. The CEO, Michale Ghossein, is accusing CCK of ineptness, laxity and inability to act and even out the market.

Policy not taken care of. – Orange says that the policy in the market is just for the books and is not applied practically in the market.

One operator has has more than 3/4 of the market. – Orange is arguing that after reaching this stage, the regulator must step in so that we don’t have exploitation of the consumer. But now the consumer is at the mercy of Safaricom and the government is just barking from far and not able to step in and stamp its authority to prevent the dominant player from going rogue.

90% of the high spenders are with the rogue or dominant player. This argument is resonating with many as Safaricom has the majority of high spenders and this is hampering the penetration of the market by the small players. This cannot change when the dominant player is using un-orthodox methods to maintain its market leadership

The dominant player if fixing and determining rates for the regulator and the regulator is doing nothing about it. Why should Safaricom be determining the price of the 3G license? Why is Safaricom demanding that because it is the big player, then it must be listened to? Is taht promoting fair competition?

At the Media summit also CEO Ghossein talked about the number portability provider and how it was chosen? It is becoming apparent that the process of choosing the number portability provider was not open. 8 companies applied for the chance to provide the service but one company which was fronted by officials of the ministry of information won the tender.

CEO Ghossein is arguing though that it is just not clear how the portability operator will handle the databases from all the providers though they are currently resident with CCK. And portability seems not to be the solution to the irregularities or unevenness of the market. In less than 50% of the scenarios has it worked.

Other reports elsewhere also points that the entire tendering board was sacked right before the winner was chosen.

I think that Orange has valid points here but they also have lots to do to change.