Mobile Number Portability: A Hit or A Miss?

Synopsis

Kenya recently introduced number portability service but the demand has been much lower than anticipated. So was it a success or failure?

Kenya’s telecommunications market has four mobile operators namely: Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Econet’s YU. Some argue that this number is way above the market. At one point Rene Meza, the Managing Director of Airtel Kenya said that the Kenyan market can accommodate a maximum of three mobile operators beyond that, it is saturated. I don’t know how true that is but what I know there is a vigorous battle among the mobile operators ranging from price wars to alleged sabotage. Mobile phone users have been the greatest beneficiaries of the mighty battles. The rates of calling and sending SMS have drastically reduced.

The market is largely dominated by Safaricom which boasts of approximately 17 million subscribers but of late they have been given a run for their money by the new operators who have joined the market.Most people are hesitant to change their mobile network operator for fear of losing their established contacts and also to avoid the inconvenience of broadcasting the new number to friends& relatives. Some of the operators launched complaints to the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) alleging over dominance of other companies. It is against this background that the government through Communication Commission Kenya (CCK) which is mandated to oversee smooth operations in the communication sector decided to award tender to a company to work on the modalities of number portability. Mobile number portability (MNP) is a technology that enables mobile phone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.

The tender was awarded to Porting Access Kenya and after so much wait, the service was rolled out in 1^st April 2011.The service attracted mixed reactions from mobile phone users. Some welcomed it and have seen it as a move to reduce dominance of some mobile operators and prevent one from being “a slave” to a specific operator. However, others viewed the service as being much expensive than acquiring a new number altogether. For one to port to another network he/she has to part with Ksh.200 while when acquiring new number it costs Ksh.20.It is 10 times more expensive than acquiring a new number of the network one wishes to transfer to.

Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) had anticipated that the service will have a high demand but to their surprise the reception has been rather low such that after a week of the service being rolled out only 300 people had ported to different networks. The reception has not increased any further since the service was introduced. This is low considering that there are over 20 million mobile subscribers. It may be considered to be a success from the perspective of technological advancement. Otherwise, it is considered to be a failure on the basis of the number of people who have ported since its introduction. There may be other factors that could have contributed to the low pick-up of the number portability but what I think for sure is that the cost of the service is the foundation of the low reception.

WHAT’S COOKING IN RAILA’S WORLD?

SYNOPSIS

Speculation is rife as to what is happening in Raila’s world as far as his presidential ambitions are concern. This comes at a time when he is perceived to be losing grip of his support.

Raila has been considered to be enigma in Kenyan political arena for quite a long time now but of late, the incumbent Prime Minister is perhaps facing one of the most exigent times in his career. First, according to the last polls by Synovate Group he is losing his popularity despite the fact that he is still the leading presidential aspirant. Secondly, ODM his party in which he is the leader is under siege. This began when he differed with one of his close ally, William Ruto regarding some national issues which included Mau Forest Conservation and the prosecution of the post election violence. Ruto who also happens to be the political kingpin of the Rift Valley Province decided to launch rebellion against Raila and his allies. They walked out of the party leaving it relatively weaker than it used to be. This has sent shock waves and panic to party supporters across the country. The party is losing its ground and cannot comfortably win debates in parliament owed to reduced numbers. The rebel M.Ps accused the party leader of undermining democracy in the running of the party affairs. Last week, the party had to withdraw its members from Parliament Legal Affairs Committee. The chairman of the committee, Ababu Namwamba, who was from ODM was embattled and due to inadequate numerical support in the committee.

In out of the ordinary move, the rebels M.Ps have joined forces with the PNU party who at one point they couldn’t see each other eye to eye. It’s true; there is no permanent enemy in politics, so I heard. They are in fact in the offing of forming a political alliance. Members from different parties including the rebel have come together in what has been seen as an attempt to lock and fix Raila out of the contention of presidency. This move also shows how this man, Raila, is powerful in the political arena. Up to now, he has not taken any concrete action in an attempt to counter the popularity and influence of the alliance which seems to be posing an imminent threat to his political career. What baffles his supports and the opponents too is his continued silence regarding the issue. So what exactly is cooking in Raila’s kitchen? Anyway the political temperatures are set to rise as individuals jostle for position and campaigns for 2012 take top gear. As for Raila, it is wait and see as his supporters wait observe how he will redeem himself from the current political grave in which he is.

THE FUEL SHORTAGE DEBACLE

SYNOPSIS

The recurrent fuel shortage year in, year out has reached a point that it is exasperating and permanent solution should be sought by the various stakeholders.

Fuel shortage is not a new phenomenon in Kenya and another episode has just ended after week long of scarcity           .Last week saw, Mombasa and Nairobi being faced with an acute shortage of fuel. Motorists had to queue for several hours just to get that precious commodity. Some consumers ended up reaching home as late as 1am.Kenya Pipeline Company and Kenya Refineries Ltd had about 5900000 litres of oil just before the festive season. The government alleged that the oil companies didn’t apply for new stock since they were anticipating tax reduction so that they could buy it on low price hence leading to acute shortage of oil. In Mombasa, some of the oil marketers were accused by the residents of hoarding the product. I have already stressed how unethical hoarding is in my previous article.

The high cost of living has already caused enough stress to the mwananchi and when coupled with shortage of the black gold which is also expensive, it becomes too much for one to handle. I would blame the reoccurrences of this situation upon the country’s poor planning and the ubiquitous corruption in the energy sector which shall be a discussion for another day. This is not the first time we are experiencing this debacle. The country’s policies and strategic plans tend to be short term and cannot be viable in the long run. It concentrates only the immediate demands leaving out future demands thereafter leading to shortage.

The petroleum industry requires a complete audit to find out where the problem is. The respective stakeholders should come together to discuss the findings, recommendation and implement the solutions so as to create a conducive environment for each one of us. Millions of money is lost when there is slight delay in the manufacturing industries because lack of fuel and not to mention the transport sector. I have two recommendations: first, the Kipevu Storage facility in Mombasa should be expanded to have room for more oil. Could we be affected by the current high oil prices if we could have bought oil say for the next two years? The additional space would have stored the excess thus the prices would have been normal since we would have a buffer. Secondly, the planning should focus on the current demand and the future demands too. The time has come for us to find a long term solution lest we continue to suffer year in, year out.

POROUS BORDERS MAKES KENYA VULNERABLE PREY FOR TERRORISTS

Synopsis

Going by the recent insecurity cases witnessed in the country, there is little doubt if any that our borders are somehow porous and this makes Kenya a vulnerable prey for terrorists.

The death of the Chief Terrorist, Osama Bin Laden came as a sigh of relief to many people across the world. This man gave many governments across the world sleepless nights more so U.S.A. Here in Kenya, his operations robbed us life, destruction of infrastructure, and physical disability of some people. He is most remembered for the vicious attacks on U.S Embassy in Kenya 1998 and the Kikambala hotel in Mombasa. Victims, friends and relatives who were affected by his terror attacks were baying for his blood. Fortunately, the US Forces placed a bullet on his head before he could continue with his cause.

How did Osama and his comrades come to Kenya, launch an attack then disappear without trace? Recently, Kenyans living along the Kenya-Ethiopia border witnessed one of the deadliest attack staged by an Ethiopian militia. Sadly, some were not able to see the light of the day to at least tell the tale. This took place in Turkana, Northwest of Kenya. Every time Turkana features in the news headlines, it usually has a negative connotation ranging from hunger to fatal cattle rustling. In the latest attack, 40 are feared to be dead but up to now 25 have been confirmed to be deceased while the rest are still missing. This incident is not distant from a massacre going by the number of innocent lives that have been lost and the means by which by which they were murdered. Now, the big question is, how did the militia come, kill the 25 individuals and leave without being noticed by the security forces? In another incident the Al-shabab militia raided Mandera, North East of Kenya a long Kenya-Somali border and abducted a government officer and two missionary nuns. The above incidents and others like grenade attacks in Uhuru Park Nairobi last year, numerous narcotic consignments being impounded far away from the border, and firearms impounded in Narok town near Kenya-Tanzania border are a clear indication of porous borders that makes Kenya an easy target for terrorists. Is there security lapse a long the borders? And are we safe?

Insecurity has gigantic negative implications on both the country’s political and economical fronts. Tourism industry will be the first casualty. It is the leading foreign exchange earner courtesy of approximately 2 million tourists who visit Kenya annually. Insecurity will lead to decline in number of tourists visiting the country and this means loss of income. Secondly, foreign investors will be hesitant to invest here and even those who currently operating in the country may opt to wind up their business ventures fearing terrorist attacks. As result, jobs will be lost and the revenue to the government will be no more. Insecurity in a nut shell will indeed derail economic growth and progress of the country.

In a bid to make the country and the citizens secure, the government should reinforce the security at key entry points and also use latest technology in detecting firearms, illegal immigrants and narcotics. As much as we celebrate Osama’s death, we are not out of the woods yet. The government should be more vigilant than ever before since his loyalists can plot a retaliation attack. May God the Almighty rest the souls in peace of those who died in terror attacks and most recently the Todiyang Massacre. Amen.

THERE IS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE IN THE HIGH COST OF LIVING CRISIS

Synopsis

Recent high cost of living being experienced in East Africa caught people by surprise. Many people had to adjust their budget to least continue to survive in this harsh economic times. It is believed that high cost of living has been brought about courtesy of high oil prices. In addition to that; it is further fuelled by unethical business people.

Current Situation

The current high cost of living being experienced across East Africa has been largely attributed to high prices of oil in the world. The situation is dire to an extent that it has led to protests in Uganda and a demand of 60% pay-hike by workers in Kenya if not they put down their tools of trade. The oil price is, in most cases determined by market forces; demand and supply. The revolution movement in some of the oil producing countries like Libya has adversely affected oil production resulting into shortage of the precious commodity. Consequently, the price of different commodities have sky rocketed pushing people to the brink of poverty.

Unscrupulous business people

However, it is not only high prices that has pushed cost of living through the roof. There are unethical business people who are making the situation worse than already is. This is because some business people are hoarding goods in order to create an acute shortage which in real sense is not there! They then increase the price and reap super normal profit. This has taken a tall order on basic goods like maize which forms a key meal in many families. Kenya in last season had a bumper harvest. The farmers sold some to unscrupulous business persons who have hoarded the produce only to release it now and sell at exorbitant prices making it unaffordable for many people.

Government’s Action…

The government in an attempt to cushion the consumers against the harsh economic times reduced tax levied on maize, wheat, diesel and kerosene. This was announced about 10 days ago but to date, the prices have remained the same. When asked, they are quick to say that the stock bought when the price was is yet to be cleared. On the other hand, when the tax has been increased, they increase the price instantly despite the fact that the stock was acquired when the price was low. That’s sheer greed!

Be Considerate

The high cost of living caused by high prices of oil, extended drought season, and the selfishness of some business people have led some individuals to abject poverty. The million dollar question is what gratification does one get by hoarding goods? You can exploit people for now but don’t forget they will be your customers even after the crisis. Profit making is the primary motive of any business organization but it should be done in most legal and ethical manner. Just remember don’t burn the bridge you may need it on your way back.