Archives For zain zap

Would Mpesa fair better as its own corporate entity?

December 22, 2011 — Leave a comment

The growth of the mobile industry in Africa has been nothing short of amazing, with the mobile phone becoming a defacto part of day to day life across all levels of society and innovation happening rapidly to increase its utility. One of the  pain points that individuals and corporations are trying to address is that of taking services closer to the consumer and with that comes the issue of payment for services.

Mpesa, which I consider an outlier service in respect to its runaway success in person to person mobile money transfer, is trying to add value to its service offering by going for the business end of things. This has seen larger utility companies leverage this to increase consumer satisfaction and improve on collection of revenue. In Kenya, the Mpesa service commands a 90+% share of the market, which doesn’t lend itself well to the replication that mobile network operators are trying to do across the world as the dynamics vary greatly. Continue Reading…

In Business, Mobile, Technology , , , , , , ,
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Innovation on voice and non voice services will change operator fortunes

November 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

The tariff wars between the mobile operators was bound to have a resounding effect at some point in time, with the day of reckoning coming by way of Safaricom announcement of their half year results that saw a 47.4 percent dip in half year net profit to Ksh 4 billion. Traditional voice and messaging has in the past been majorly peer to peer and served as the cash cow for mobile  network operators. With consumers calling for lower tariffs on both these fronts, mobile network operators are having their work cut out for them, if the plum profits they have enjoyed in the past are to remain constant.

TNS Research International East Africa released a report last year dubbed  – Digital Life 2010  that looked into what Kenyans are doing online. That alongside other research can help in determining where to place effort and financing toward the creation of compelling new services for mobile network operators. What is important though is that this innovation need not come from within the operators but they should look to the growing local developer community.

My growth area forecasts are as follows.

Continue Reading…

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Closing the loop in electronic commerce

October 27, 2011 — Leave a comment

This week came with the news that Naspers, a South Africa-based multinational media company with principal operations in electronic media and consolidated revenues for the year ended March 2011 standing at R. 33 billion {Ksh 396 billion}, closed its local operation of Kalahari {www.kalahari.co.ke}; their online retailing outfit. Though the exact reason for this pullout is yet to be disclosed officially, it draws sharp focus to what makes electronic commerce tick, more so that such a well heeled operation would wind up.

First let us walkthrough what would be considered a basic well thought out user experience for e-commerce . Continue Reading…

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Where to play in the mobile value added services ecosystem

February 17, 2011 — Leave a comment

It is always interesting to hear discussions around emerging technologies or industries that seem to capture the minds of everyone; from your barber to the executive at a FMCG company. More often than not, if the discussion is based on mobile technology, a lot of assumptions are made as to who plays what role and where the opportunity lies.

At the very top of the mobile ecosystem is the regulator CCK – Communications Commission of Kenya who are in charge of issuing licenses to mobile network operators, premium rate service providers – PRSP’s and content providers. The different tiers of licensing attract varied fees with the current cost of the PRSP and content provider license standing at Ksh 100,000, on top of an application fee of Ksh.10, 000. The license fee is annual and from year two, it  is based on a percentage of revenue generated by your firm with the lower limit of Ksh.100,000. Continue Reading…

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Understanding revenue generation for value added services on mobile

February 10, 2011 — 4 Comments

The fact that mobile is big in Africa is undeniable with more people seeking to understand how to  derive maximum value from this channel. What most seek to know is how to generate revenue from the various services that they can offer. To generate revenue, one must have the ability to bill for services and there are various ways of doing this.

Shortcodes
Shortcodes are 3-4 digit numbers that are availed by Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) to Premium Rate Service Providers (PRSP’s) for purposes of setting up services.  At the time of setup, shortcodes are assigned billing bands which range from normal sms rates to premium rates of up to 100 shillings. Shortcodes don’t offer flexible billing and you must choose the best fit for your service. Shortcodes attract a monthly rental fee from the operators and may attract a premium one-off fee if the code is considered “golden”, such as an easy to remember 5544 for example.

Mobile operators usually reserve the use of 3 digit short-codes for network centric services. Continue Reading…

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Cashing in on organic search this festive season

December 20, 2010 — Leave a comment

The festive season brings many firsts, with consumers looking for different experiences; tired with the same old trips to the coast or some other familiar location. This leads them to look for new places to explore and more often than not they will end up online typing away in some search engine.

While bigger establishments in the service industry have some level of digital presence, it is unfortunate that niche or smaller players don’t consider a digital presence as part of their “findability” strategy. I shy away from using the term digital strategy as it instantly conjures up a complex maze of jargon and technical complexity that many business owners would much rather steer clear of. An example may help drive the point home as it does take a series of inputs to make yourself “findable”. Continue Reading…

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How to differentiate your telco…lessons for Zain, Orange,Yu and any other chap trying to play catch up

August 20, 2010 — 1 Comment

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…

In Business, Mobile, Numbers and the bottom line, Technology , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Zain slashes rates by 50% for calls to all networks in Kenya

August 18, 2010 — Leave a comment

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…

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PesaPot, RedCloud to offer Mobile Technology for Kenyan Microfinance Organizations

July 14, 2010 — Leave a comment

RedCloud, developer of cloud computing financial services platform have recently announced an alliance with PesaPot in Kenya to provide mobile loan technology for the fast growing MFI and Sacco industry in Kenya. This reseller agreement enables PesaPot to offer innovative technology and mobile solutions as a best practice in the cloud.

The alliance will bring RedCloud Technology to fast growing financial services companies reaching the under banked. By joining the cloud, financial services companies can gain real-time insight into their loan portfolios as well as dramatically reduce their costs.

“Our work with PesaPot is helping make MFIs and Saccos (Savings and Credit Cooperatives) more efficient and effective and enable them to reach thousands more of the underbanked population with their products” said Elizabeth Galpin SVP of Product Marketing at RedCloud. “Bringing together Pesa Pot’s unique industry knowledge and experience and Red Cloud’s cloud computing technology will make a highly positive impact on the entire financial eco system in Kenya and beyond.” Continue Reading…

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Intrepid Data Systems launches Ipay

February 22, 2010 — 2 Comments

iPay is an easy-to-use mobile money transaction processing system that incorporates the popular M-Pesa and Zap modes of money transfer.They have packaged these two popular money transfer systems into an online transaction processing system that will allow you to receive payments off your website and thus further extend the reach of your brand’s products and services within the East African Region and beyond. Continue Reading…

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