Orange today announced the lowest on net tariff of Ksh 2/-  and slashed its off net tariff to Ksh 4/- for its GSM customers following the revision of interconnection rates by the Communications Commission of Kenya. The new tariff also comes with an additional benefit of free calls from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. for only Ksh 100 top up per month across all Orange networks such as Orange mobile, Orange wireless and Telkom Fixed (landline).

Effective today midnight, both Orange GSM post and pre- paid customers will enjoy a new call and SMS rates of  Ksh 2.00 per minute for calls and Kshs 1 for SMS whereas calls to other networks will be charged at Ksh 4/- per minute and Ksh 2/- per SMS respectively. continue reading »

It may feel abit dumb to start off like this…but any kiosk owner will tell you this. If you all stock the same nyanya skuma, you will be left with no recourse but to compete on price. The kaching comes with setting yourself apart…I would stop here and have you call me and pay me to walk you back to the school of basics but am in a good mood today.

Like I told you before, you better stop this price war maneno or you will all soon go out of business or best bet see massive hemorrhages on your bottom line. Micheal Joseph has said time and again – he has investors to take care of, and I have to agree with him on that point, coz I would expect a divided on my shares, if I had bought like 1 million of those “papers” when the country was going green and this not alluding to the referendum. My boy Rene is willing to take a hit for the next 5 years because he has a big brother with deep pockets. Deep pockets get depleted, and if your strategy doesn’t work out, you will be out of a job – tail tucked and the Kenya operation will be spun to some other hapless investor with big visions and their head in the clouds, with grand plans of a turnaround.  Rene was on Business Daily explaining their strategy…you will remember the Vuka tariff that was discontinued…hmmm

Bwana Atul of Yu, jumped over the cliff late last night and put it out that they too had “amuad” and dunked prices to 5cts per second or more directly 3 bob per minute and 50cts per sms on onnet messaging.

Mickael Ghossein has been quiet thus far after the sparing between the Pinks, Greens and Blacks, but I kinda guess he too is thinking of their new lower price point. I am sorely hoping that his decisions will have a good measure of thought and not some knee jerk reflex. continue reading »

Just a day after launching the “industry-shaking” low cross-network charges, Zain Kenya is accusing competitor Safaricom of sabotage. The company has written to the Communications Commission of Kenya, asking the regulator to stop Safaricom from “abusing dominance” by offering only limited capacity for cross network calls coming from the Zain network. “Our customers are experiencing congestion and call set up issues when they call Safaricom and not when calling Zain. This is purely for the simple reason that our main competitor has been delaying the capacity increase request from our side to accommodate the incremental traffic coming from us after we launched our new offer in the market,” said Mr. Rene Meza, Zain Kenya Managing Director. continue reading »

Technology doesn’t exist for its own sake, if it did, it would die a rather quick death from lack of adoption that would see it maintain relevance. Mobile has morphed into a lifestyle with many consumers not giving a second thought to the technology that powers it, not that they should anyway. But as it morphs into a lifestyle, it creates a new playground for interaction which many brands are yet to catch on, still basking in familiar old school methods of engagement.

The opportunity here is very real and would offer great benefits for the first mover.  Brands need to start developing and implementing mobile strategies if they are to engage their consumers on a personal level. The battle for mindshare and eventually consumer purses will be won by the brands that will offer truly compelling and personalized experiences. continue reading »

Zain Kenya has today lowered its calling charges across all networks by a whooping 50% – becoming the first mobile phone company in the country to pass to customers the benefit of the new low interconnect charges released by the Communication Commission of Kenya. The mobile phone company has lowered its callings charges to Kshs. 3 across all networks in Kenya for both its prepaid and postpaid customers in a move that abolishes completely the distinction between intra-network and cross-network calls costs.

SMS costs have also been lowered to Ksh. 1 across all networks in Kenya. In what is arguably the best value proposition ever launched in the Kenya telecommunications industry, Zain said the drastic reduction in calling charges would benefit its customers and those on other networks who are paying extremely high prices for making phone calls. With the lowering of the connectivity charges to a new low, Kenyans will now be in a position to switch mobile service providers while retaining their current numbers once the number portability directive comes into force. continue reading »

Over 15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population – will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. All standard phones with the ability to SMS are being transformed with the new Kipokezi service bringing low-cost email and chat within the reach of millions of Kenyans, improving communications with their friends and families,both at home and abroad.

We have seen  blistering growth in mobile phone subscriptions. From just over 125,000 in 2000, latest figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) show there are now more than 17 million Kenyans with a mobile phone subscription.

The new Kipokezi service will be available to Safaricom’s entire subscriber base and is provided by ForgetMeNot Africa, a specialist in unified messaging systems for
telecommunications operators. continue reading »

As appeared in the Business Daily on August 06 2010

We have been hit by the social networking bug, with companies complaining of lost productivity from their workers because of platforms such as Facebook which are considered the ultimate time sink. But what these “timesinks” have created is an ecosystem that can be leveraged to push products and services but we are yet to see any interesting initiatives that result in real-world returns for local companies or agencies.

One of the most visible aspects of this new ecosystem is the concept of virtual goods and upselling. continue reading »

I have something in the kitchen coming out real soon and i though it best to share a resource that will help zero in on what to look at when creating a sticky mobile product.
Four things…

1. Plan

- Find a niche, fill it well.
- Talk to people about their needs. They don’t necessarily match yours.
- Start with your idea for a product. Look at what problem it is trying to solve. Then look to other solutions that could solve it. Then, finally, pick the best idea. It might not be your original.
- Think multi-platform
- Think about shareable, and socially-contextual applications continue reading »