Safaricom to roll out faster data access

Safaricom on Thursday received a licence to roll out third generation (3G) mobile systems and services.

This will enable subscribers access to high speed data communications, which include faster access to internet, video conferencing and video phone, among others.

Safaricom, which has consistently posted huge profits in recent years, is running ahead of the competition. However, competition is expected to intensify with the anticipated entry of other players, among them the third mobile operator, Econet Wireless, which will roll out early next year.

Last Wednesday, Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph, said the company's profits will come under pressure for the next five years as more players emerge. The roll out is hence, among the firm's strategies to beat off competition.

Last year, Safaricom posted Sh17.2 billion, the highest in the East African region.

Communications Commission of Kenya, director general, John Waweru said 3G enabled services will facilitate e-applications in medical, education and business.

He said although the 3G systems were used more in developed countries, they would assist developing countries to 'leapflog and close technology gaps with the developed countries.'

He added that CCK had requested Safaricom and Celtel to undertake trials on the third generation service in Nairobi and Mombasa, and the services have proved to be of quality.

Mr Waweru said Safaricom should introduce innovative services the like introduced in Singapore last week, where parents were enabled to monitor their children, residence and streets.

"It is my hope that Safaricom will roll out many innovative services in 3G whose uptake would be targeted across the board to meet the needs of all consumers of mobile telephone services," he said.

The licence cost $25 million (Sh1.7 billion). Mr Joseph said the firm will use an equal amount to build the infrastructure for the 3G services.

Mr Waweru said the licence fee will be used to expand Information Communication Technology (ICT)

Vodacom Tanzania: The better choice too!

The beauty of travelling is that you do get exposed to different aspects of life other than what you would consider the norm back at home. Here I am in Dar es Salaam, using my Safaricom pre-paid line on Tanzania's Vodacom platform.

What suprised on Monday when I landed here, was that pleasant suprise that the Safaricom 200 postpaid customer care line is actually accessible to us prepaid users! Now that was a shocker for me!

Anyway aside from that, the only dissapointment was that I could not surf on my Samsung E250 as the Safaricom GPRS settings here are not valid. Upon calling Safaricom customer care, they did actually inform me that they were working on that technicaility. It was good to call and sms home at the same rate as though we were back home. The only downside, Safaricom scratch cards are hard to come by here, and if you do get them, watch out for the extra service charge. Maybe one day they might operate like Celtel, where you can use the local scratch cards to top up your line.

The pleasant experience was the 3G service offered by Vodacom here. Here they offer anything from a 500 MB internet bundle per month at Ksh. 3,500 to an astonishingly 2 GIG bundle per month at Ksh. 9,600! Now that is what we have been talking about for so long. They also offer 3G HSDPA Data Card (Huawei E620) and the USB Modem (Huawei E220) to both postpaid and prepaid users, though still yet to confirm what the actual download and upload speed rates are. Apart from the traditional services they also offer support for video calls.

But not too worry Safaricom has just unveiled plans to roll out the 3G mobile platform in Kenya by December! After all, they are both subsidiaries of the UK Vodafone company, or aren't they?

Update: Banking on a mobile phone Part 2

Looks like Safaricom's new service M-PESA is causing sleepness nights to stock investors in certain financial markets, visit the link below to go to the StockKenya website:

http://www.stockskenya.com/stkForumTopic.aspx?stk=0&top=1288

And it is equally causing excitement for those waiting and hoping that the Government offloads their shares in Safaricom soon as in yesterday. Visit the link below to go to Reuters website:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=PR&symbol=VOD.L&storyID=53511+12-Feb-2007+RNS&type=qcna

Update: Banking on a mobile phone

Source: http://www.safaricom.co.ke/m-pesa/

The M-Pesa was officially launched on 6 March 2007 and it promises to re-define the meaning of money transfer as we know it in Kenya today.

According to Safaricom’s website M-PESA is a new service that allows one to transfer money using a mobile phone. And Kenya is the first country in the world to use this service, which is offered in partnership between Safaricom and Vodafone.

M-PESA is available to all members of the public, even if they do not have a bank account which to me is the answer to the prayers of rural Kenyans that the mainstream banks have been ignoring for decades.
The charges to be levied are low as promised, as there is no charges for deposits between Kes. 100 and Kes. 35,000. sending money to a registered M-PESA user will cost you Kes 30 for amounts between Kes. 100 and Kes. 35,0000; non-registered M-PESA users will range from Kes. 30 to Kes. 400 for the same amounts.

Withdrawal charges for M-PESA users range from Kes. 25 to Kes. 170 for Kes. 100 to Kes. 35,000 withdrawals and absolutely free for non M-PESA users (as the sender is already billed for that). I can bet a dime no bank in Kenya can match Safaricom’s charges!

The M-PESA service can also be used to buy airtime too.

And Safaricom seems to have done its homework and gone ahead to license agents (though they are still looking for some more in all parts of the country too!).

So folks, go exchange your old SIM cards for the new, or even better, buy a Safaricom line to start sambazing folks in shags the loot!

Banking on a mobile phone

It has been long since I wrote anything new on this blog, but after coming across some interesting information on banking on mobile phone, decided to put this up.

First, I would like to acknowledge the sources of the information that am about to blog;

Christine Bowers, 'How banking on the mobile phone can help the poor'
Kenneth Kwama, East Standard, 'The next big thing'

The interest in this came about when I had to go for a SIM replacement from Safaricom. What struck me most, was the unsual green color of the SIM card. For some of us perenial mobile phone losers, we had gotten accustomed to the trademark black SIM card. Upon enquiry from the customer care rep at the dealer shop, I was informed this was the new generation SIM card from the 'better option'.

The menu embedded on the SIM card is more extensive, with some new features that are not yet supported by Safaricom - of which M-Pesa was of interest.

Apparently M-Pesa is an acronym for Mteja-Pesa, a low-cost money transfer that transforms your traditional phone into a banking instrumet (think of it like PostaPay!). The idea behind it is so simple! It will allow the mteja to borrow, transfer and pay money using SMS texting, and also access virtual loan accounts!

That is M-Banking or Mobile Banking, which has come of age in Kenya!

What I had not known, is that Safaricom had been running a pilot project in Thika with 400 wateja. And another 600 have tried the system in 8 dealerships in Mathare and Nairobi CBD last year.

It is expected to be launched nxt month, and what stands between Safaricom and the M-Pesa service is CBK's approval as the digital money service is financial in nature.

The possibilities of the service are staggering. Imagine what would the banks fare in the heat of the competition that is bound to be generated. For those poor Kenyans who cannot afford to open (let alone maintain) an account with the banks, this would be the most fastest ad secure means of sending money.

Reminds of the newly launched PostaPay money transfer of Posta that has taken the breathe out of the domestic money transfer service providers like MoloLine and Securicor (I know they are not meant for financial transfer ). All the customer has to do, is approach the dealer, pay the amount that you want sent to the Safaricom account, get issued with a secret code then SMS the code to the recipient, who withdraws the money from any dealer in Kenya using the secret code.

It is anticipaed that this will be low cost (rumoured at Ksh. 18 per transaction).

Life will definitely not be good for Posta and PostBank.

At the moment, enthusiasm for m-banking has outrun its implementation. For one thing, regulators break out in a cold sweat at the thought of all the overlapping issues involved. But there are success stories in other parts of Africa. Leading the way is the South Africa , with MTN Mobile Banking and Wizzit both entering their second year of operations.

These telecom companies aren't offering m-banking out of the kindness of their hearts. They like m-banking because it's a way for them to attract new customers by doing what they already do well—processing millions of tiny transactions. Banks aren't as interested, because they don't expect to profit from poor clients who won't be taking out a mortgage anytime soon. But the telecoms could start siphoning away bank customers who don't need all the bells and whistles.