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* VoIP WARS - SKYPE HITS AFRICA AND TELKOM KENYA DISCONNECTS SEMA CARDS
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Legal VoIP services are now becoming available in Kenya and South Africa.
Their existence can only speed up the collapse of over-priced international
services. If wholesale minutes are available for US1 cent a minute what is
the justification for charging USD1 a minute? So now real competition is
beginning and it will put the telco incumbents under pressure. This week's
top story from Kenya shows the near-bankrupt Telkom Kenya trying all its old
tricks and disconnecting its service competitors. It has not yet understood
the new world it's in. It needs to provide equal access to all users if it
is not to find itself challenged as a monopoly while there are currently no
alternatives. The sensible business strategy would be to stop trying to be a
service provider and seek to be the primary infrastructure provider. It
could trade the 80-90% of service market income (which will be lost under
the new competition rules) for the majority of service users paying it a
proportion of revenues for access to its infrastructure.
Meanwhile the water keeps rising around Africa's telco incumbents. A recent
consultation document from the Kenya regulator CCK suggested making use of
PCs to make phone calls legal. The number of users across the continent
already doing this is not massive but they are are likely to be those that
make a significant proportion of international calls. Therefore the steady
spread of the Skype VoIP service is an incumbent nightmare that dare not
speak its name. As various ISPs are already doing in Europe (for example,
yahoo.fr), Skype is offering international phone calls for just the cost of
your internet connection to other Skype users. Those using it in Africa have
told us that the quality varies from crystal-clear to the frankly unusable.
You can even buy SkypeOut minutes that allow you to connect to non-skype
users with ordinary phones. Like all pioneer services, they will be things
that follow that are easier to use (just as Napster was succeeded by iTunes)
but the tipping point will happen soon in Africa: a large proportion of the
continent's PC users will "get it" soon. Mapara Syed and Russell Southwood
explore its possible impact on Africa.
* SKYPE: THE PROGRAMME THAT WILL EAT THE LUNCH OF AFRICAN TELCOS
Over the past year and a half, Skypeâs popularity has exploded with over 25
million users currently signed up for the service worldwide. By 2008 that
number is expected to dramatically increase to between 140 and 245 million.
Most of Skypeâs adherents use it for personal calls although a growing
number of them are also using it to make calls for work. In addition, Skype
have secured a number of high profile deals highlighting their productâs
increasing appeal. Recently, Motorola joined Skype Technologies to co-market
connectivity options for Skype's growing base, an alliance designed to
advance mobile internet telephony, while consumers will soon be able to
purchase Skype-enabled PCs from retailers thanks to a new agreement between
the VoIP provider and Xandros, which will bundle Skype with its Xandros
Desktop Operating System.
For the rest of this story go to: http://www.balancingact-africa.com After 15.00 hours GMT, 28 February
To download Skype software: http://www.skype.com
* TELKOM KENYA DISCONNECTS VoIP CALLING CARD SEMA AS IT PUTS HEAT ON ITS
INTERNATIONAL REVENUES
Telkom Kenya has disconnected individuals and business using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling cards from making international calls.
Telkom whose exclusivity ended in June last year have done this by
disconnecting a line they issued to ISP Kenya Limited through which Sema
calling card holders were able to make international calls. Brian Longwe,
the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at ISP Kenya last week blamed Telkom
Kenya for disconnecting the service that allowed Kenyans affordable
international calls. Through the Sema calling card, a minute call to USA and
Europe costs about Ksh 10.
For the rest of this story go to: http://www.balancingact-africa.com After 15.00 hours GMT, 28 February
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