Nairoberry
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 7, 2012
- 933
- 525
Down one of the streets of Nairobi there is an 8 megabits per second fibre connection to a Kenyan home that I stayed in last week.
It is remarkable for a few reasons: the connection is the newer much faster fibre-optics; and it's for unlimited data, like broadband is around the world.
But the outstanding feature is the price: a mere $50 (about R435) a month for what the industry calls triple-play: an internet connection, a phone line and a TV service.
The service, called Zuku, is offered by Wananchi, one of the largest service providers in Kenya. "The cable TV is a bonus," another subscriber told me.
In a related development, Wananchi has begun offering a free wireless service around Nairobi called Wazi WiFi, hoping, like San Francisco, to kickstart entrepreneurial activity.
Kenya is well known for its clever mobile services, especially the remarkable mapping service Ushahidi and M-Pesa, the mobile payment system through which 20% of the Kenyan GDP now passes.
It is a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, which was on display last week at the Open Africa Innovation Summit in Nairobi.
The signs of Kenyan telecoms success are everywhere, nowhere more so than with fibre services like Zuku and Wazi.
This is starkly contrasted with the state of telecoms in South Africa where Telkom continues to be an embarrassing albatross.
The government, Telkom's major shareholder, bizarrely backtracked on its support for the proposed 20% investment by Korea Telecoms last week.
Forget that Eskom plunged the country into darkness a few years ago, Telkom is one of the most key strategic assets that has kept us in the dark ages.
It should be upgrading its extensive network to provide fibre to the home, the wired internet access required for next-generation internet content.
If Kenya, with all of its infrastructure problems, can do it, what is taking Telkom so long?
We can debate the value of having a foreign investor - a previous consortium is considered responsible for the massive R3.5-billion fine proposed by the Competition Commission for anti-competitive behaviour a decade ago.
The South Korean potential partner has rightly been worried about this fine, and the impact it will have on Telkom's depleted cash reserves. Its offer was contingent on the outcome of the competition decision; and it's difficult to say if the fine will have any positive impact on Telkom's future.
But what is clear is that Telkom needs some inspiration.
After selling its stake in Vodacom, it built its own cellular operator, 8ta, which is haemorrhaging money (a loss of R1.1-billion last year). With Cell C announcing aggressive price cuts, it will put 8ta - which is competing for the same pay-as-you-go market - under more pressure.
Telkom has meanwhile lost untold numbers of both voice and data users to the mobile networks because the fixed-line provider still appears not to have realised broadband is a volume business. Mobile data prices are still high, even if they have fallen over the years.
It's not all Telkom's fault. The government has failed the South African consumer by neglecting to provide the right regulatory environment for competition to thrive.
Telkom, which this week was said to be perhaps the biggest telecoms operator in Africa, has announced it is trialling fibre and an upgrade to its ADSL network later this year. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is eating the once proud monopoly's lunch. And, as Kenya shows, with the right regulatory support, anything is possible.
Telkom snoozed and it's losing
Kenya's fibre bonanza - Times LIVE
It is remarkable for a few reasons: the connection is the newer much faster fibre-optics; and it's for unlimited data, like broadband is around the world.
But the outstanding feature is the price: a mere $50 (about R435) a month for what the industry calls triple-play: an internet connection, a phone line and a TV service.
The service, called Zuku, is offered by Wananchi, one of the largest service providers in Kenya. "The cable TV is a bonus," another subscriber told me.
In a related development, Wananchi has begun offering a free wireless service around Nairobi called Wazi WiFi, hoping, like San Francisco, to kickstart entrepreneurial activity.
Kenya is well known for its clever mobile services, especially the remarkable mapping service Ushahidi and M-Pesa, the mobile payment system through which 20% of the Kenyan GDP now passes.
It is a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, which was on display last week at the Open Africa Innovation Summit in Nairobi.
The signs of Kenyan telecoms success are everywhere, nowhere more so than with fibre services like Zuku and Wazi.
This is starkly contrasted with the state of telecoms in South Africa where Telkom continues to be an embarrassing albatross.
The government, Telkom's major shareholder, bizarrely backtracked on its support for the proposed 20% investment by Korea Telecoms last week.
Forget that Eskom plunged the country into darkness a few years ago, Telkom is one of the most key strategic assets that has kept us in the dark ages.
It should be upgrading its extensive network to provide fibre to the home, the wired internet access required for next-generation internet content.
If Kenya, with all of its infrastructure problems, can do it, what is taking Telkom so long?
We can debate the value of having a foreign investor - a previous consortium is considered responsible for the massive R3.5-billion fine proposed by the Competition Commission for anti-competitive behaviour a decade ago.
The South Korean potential partner has rightly been worried about this fine, and the impact it will have on Telkom's depleted cash reserves. Its offer was contingent on the outcome of the competition decision; and it's difficult to say if the fine will have any positive impact on Telkom's future.
But what is clear is that Telkom needs some inspiration.
After selling its stake in Vodacom, it built its own cellular operator, 8ta, which is haemorrhaging money (a loss of R1.1-billion last year). With Cell C announcing aggressive price cuts, it will put 8ta - which is competing for the same pay-as-you-go market - under more pressure.
Telkom has meanwhile lost untold numbers of both voice and data users to the mobile networks because the fixed-line provider still appears not to have realised broadband is a volume business. Mobile data prices are still high, even if they have fallen over the years.
It's not all Telkom's fault. The government has failed the South African consumer by neglecting to provide the right regulatory environment for competition to thrive.
Telkom, which this week was said to be perhaps the biggest telecoms operator in Africa, has announced it is trialling fibre and an upgrade to its ADSL network later this year. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is eating the once proud monopoly's lunch. And, as Kenya shows, with the right regulatory support, anything is possible.
Telkom snoozed and it's losing
Kenya's fibre bonanza - Times LIVE
