@Walu
Your statement below sort of negates all that you have said, nah? 🙂
*Infact MPESA is BOTH a platform and a product at the same time. They just
chose to play by product rules when it is convenient to shield them from
platform responsibilities.*
We can continue this conversation further over a biryani lunch.. (And Steve
Chege is welcome to join us) 🙂
Regards
*Ali Hussein*
*Principal*
*AHK & Associates*
Tel: +254 713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
<ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,
Chiromo Road, Westlands,
Nairobi, Kenya.
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely
mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the
organizations that I work with.
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 10:15 AM, Walubengo J <[email protected]> wrote:
> @Ali,
>
> I agree with everything you say below except on the platform thing. MPESA
> is a indeed a platform, even by your own definition that you shared below,
> which states:
>
> Platforms are structures that allow multiple products to be built within
> the same technical framework.
>
> I had my own definition from a leading researcher in the regulatory space,
> J. Bauer, (pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2c72/
> 106282dfe7b5a35e5981cf02fe656cc7a5d7.pdf)
>
> He defines a platform as follows:
>
> “technological foundations upon which other products, services,and
> systems are built”
>
> MPESA has provided the foundation and APIs upon which banking, eCommerce,
> Payment Gateways, etc have been built. It is a platform, irrespective of
> the fact that initially it was not designed as such. Even FB, Google, AWS,
> and many others were initially private entities but organically grew into
> being platforms.
>
> Which really is the regulatory crux of the matter. The owners of these
> emerging platforms still want to play by the old rules when their systems
> were Products, conveniently ignoring the fact that they are actually now
> Platforms.
>
> Infact MPESA is BOTH a platform and a product at the same time. They just
> chose to play by product rules when it is convenient to shield them from
> platform responsibilities.
>
> But it is an interesting and wide topic. Maybe Safcom should sponsor a
> 1week e-discussion to enable this to be ventilated.
>
> walu.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, July 30, 2018, 8:11:40 PM GMT+3, Ali Hussein <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
> @Walu
>
> I was baiting you..and you fell for it.. LOL
> !
>
> Let me first address the issue of Mpesa and
> the
> allegations that it is a Platform. I recommend the book *Platform
> Revolution
>
> by Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Alsytne and Sangeet Paul Choudrey.
>
> According to Tech blogger Jonathan Clarks
> <jonathanclarks.blogspot.de/2009/06/what-is-difference-between-platform-and.html>,
> “Platforms are structures that allow multiple products to be built within
> the same technical framework. Companies invest in platforms in the hope
> that future products can be developed faster and cheaper, than if they
> built them stand-alone. Today it is much more important to think of a
> platform as a business framework. By this I mean a framework that allows
> multiple business models to be built and supported. For instance, Amazon is
> an online retail framework. Amazon started by selling books. Over time they
> have expanded to selling all sorts of other things. Apple iTunes started by
> selling tracks and now uses the same framework to sell videos.”
>
> So back to my issue of whether M-Pesa is a Platform. M-Pesa wasn’t built
> from the ground up to be a Platform. To claim that M-Pesa is a Platform is
> like saying that a VW Kombi
> <www.google.com/search?q=VW+KOMBI&rlz=1C5CHFA_enKE800KE800&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=oebAUZqbFmXsSM%252Ch9Cx7Tj_4hnt2M%252C_&usg=__V7SZyrLUT-w4mOWCnPSbExol-8A%3D&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf2O6docfcAhXCxo…:>is
> a Toyota VX <www.toyota.com/landcruiser/> just because some Jua
> Kali mechanic decided to put a 5.7-Liter DOHC 32-Valve V8 with Dual
> Independent Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (VVT-i); 381 hp @ 5600
> rpm; 401 lb.-ft. @ 3600 rpm into the Kombi – #JustSaying.. 🙂 With all due
> respect to Safaricom of course..
>
>
> Platforms are an amazing thing to behold. Apple IOS is a Platform. The
> Amazon Ecosystem is a Platform. Google’s Android is a Platform. Facebook is
> a Platform. You get my point.
>
> We spend alot of time bashing Safaricom. And it is as it should be since
> they are the Big Boys/Girls in our part of the wood
> s
> ..But Safaricom has so many problems..I wish we can exploit them instead
> of wasting so much energy on them.. The world is full of companies that
> Governments were unable to break up
> but the market took care of that.. The regulatory landscape is not optimal
> for sure..and that can be worked on..But we also need to look
> inwards..Barclays is already taking steps with Timiza, so is HF..And of
> course there is Equity..The fact is this – We are all fighting for the 80%
> of the 10% market Safaricom has in mobile money..#GoFigure
>
>
> I agree with you that the Regulator needs to get up to speed with the new
> reality. However it’s not that simple. Remember the tussle between the CA
> (Communications Authority) and CAK (Competitions Authority of Kenya) on the
> Market Study? Add to this mix the CMA (Capital Markets Authority) and CBK
> (Central Bank of Kenya) to get an idea of how tough regulation is today. At
> the height of the dominance conversation last year I attempted to make a
> sense of it. See link below:-
>
>
> Dominance, Regulation and the New Strategic Imperatives
> <www.linkedin.com/pulse/dominance-regulation-new-strategic-imperatives-ali-hussein-kassim/>
>
>
> Here’s a fact that most of us don’t want to come to terms with. As untidy
> as free markets are, they are more efficient than Governments. Chairman
> William Kisang of the House Committee on Communication, Information and
> Innovation is my hero for seeing off this continuous rant on Dominance. Now
> he must take it one step further and create a Super Regulator (It can be
> that the different regulators and arms of government create a working
> committee that meets regularly and share notes to ensure they are on the
> same page when it comes to Innovation and New Business Models that
> transcend industries.
>
>
> We must move forward. Safaricom’s ‘dominance’ will be taken care of by the
> Market. With a little help from a forward looking regulator of course..I’m
> willing to bet my next year’s salary on it. 🙂
>
>
> Regards
>
>
> *Ali Hussein*
> *Principal*
> *AHK & Associates*
> +254 0713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: ke.linkedin. com/in/alihkassim
> <ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>
> “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a
> habit.” ~ Aristotle
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 30 Jul 2018, at 6:35 PM, Walubengo J <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> @Ali, am with Eng Kariuki on this one 😉
>
> Indeed we are in the age of platforms (read MPESA as an example). And yes
> we can’t blame Safcom for milking MPESA to the hilt (eg. most government
> service mobile money payments have a preferred providers ;-).
>
> I would rather blame the regulator for not seeing this coming, and when
> they finally saw it, they dilly dallied to intervene (remember 2year market
> study?) Furthermore, previous thinking that platforms are sacred corporate
> jewels not to be touched or that all markets will eventually self-correct
> have been proved wrong elsewhere with FB, Google, etc coming under heavy
> ‘regulatory fire’ in the recent past.
>
> I dont claim to have the answer to Safcom dominance, but I can claim very
> strongly that the market forces will never self-correct the dominant
> position that Safcom continues to enjoy.
>
> Is dominance a good thing? Yes, for Safcom. Is it a bad thing? Yes, for
> a country that may realize that they cannot transmit election results
> simply because the competing providers dont have presence in some areas
> under their zones. Or that you can’t access internet or send mobile money
> coz Safcom network sneezed for an hour or two as it happened a week ago.
>
> I have said this before, the dominance conversation must be rise above
> competition issues and begin to be interrogated at the level of national
> security. If Safcom beats competition to pulp, it is good for its
> shareholders (me with my very small shares included), BUT it is bad thing
> for the country that may discover they have no commensurate alternatives.
>
> That said, I dont believe baby sitting competition to beat Safcom is the
> answer either.
>
> Only a new innovation, perhaps the next ‘MPESA on a Blockchain’ sort of
> thing will be able to give Safcom the challenge it deserves.
>
> walu.
>
> On Monday, July 30, 2018, 6:00:10 PM GMT+3, Admin CampusCiti via kictanet <
> [email protected] > wrote:
>
>
> John
>
> Fortunately I’m not a graduate of Telecommunications Law.. So I can see
> clearly.. #JustSaying..
>
> I have always advocated for a review of the Framework on competition in
> not just the Telco sector but most sectors. The Age of Platforms Is here my
> brother. And we ignore it or focus on old school models of competition at
> our own risk. The Government is a very inefficient way to correct market
> conditions. Look at what is happening the world over.
>
> Why don’t we go ahead and also declare Uber dominant? Let’s engage on this
> issue and not shoot from the hip. Chairman Kisang is my hero. He must have
> been smoking the right thing that morning. 🙂
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
> +254 0713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: ke.linkedin. com/in/alihkassim
> <ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
> <ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>
> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
>
> “Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
> what no one else has thought”. ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 30 Jul 2018, at 5:37 PM, John Kariuki via kictanet <
> [email protected] > wrote:
>
> Listers, Ali.
> It is a fact that “In certain telecommunications market segments in
> Kenya, SAFARICOM is dominant. Any graduate of telecommunications law will
> confirm that. It has nothing to do with punishing success or innovation. It
> is a matter of telecommunications and competition laws. If it was in UK or
> EU I have no doubt that the issue would not have dragged this long.
> Remember we also have the ‘small problem’ of Data Protection which has
> dragged for at least 10 years. Just to repeat what one consultant told my
> then bosses many years ago and I quote “The fact that you refuse to see a
> problem does not mean that it does not exist”. If only we had listened!
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
> <go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature>
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 14:37, Barrack Otieno via kictanet
> <[email protected] > wrote:
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
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