Kenya recently published the Information Communications Technology Bill and released it for public debate. The Bill , like the Government, public and even service providers recognises that Kenyans have "unique calling habits". These habits are not unique to Kenya alone. An article by local Internet Society members appearing in the press discussed flashing and even went on to elaborate how some countries have developed a "flashing language". Flashing is when a person dials a number and terminates the call just before the recepient picks it in order to avoid paying for the cost of the call. Read more about it http://allafrica.com/stories/200602010863.html
These unique calling habits are so rampant that service providers are resorting to introduction of free flash back services and periodic offers on some tarrif packages. During a recent survey carried out informally at a campus where at least 9 out of every 10 students own a mobile phone, unique calling habits were squarely attributed to the high costs of mobile phone calls. Most of the students admitted to going as far as waking up in the middle of the night to make calls when a service provider put up a call at half price offer from say 11 pm to 6pm. Interestingly, the Service providers record jams in their switches at the start of the "off-peak" peroid on Fridays as subscribers rush to the cheaper opportunity to make their social plans. It would be interesting to see the effect of the coming os a third GSM provider or the introduction of new technology such as CDMA- which is at its infancy in Kenya- on "unique calling habits". Regards, Grace L Mutung'u [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kenya blog: http://kenlawstudents.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
