@VVS and KulaRaha....

I wrote "In Kenya this process was so BOTCHED and F--KED up in the 90s and early 00s. Telkom Kenya should ideally have been partially privatised at the same time as Kencell and Safaricom were licenced. It should have divested from Safaricom and got its own mobile licence "

Essentially its a "sins of the father" kind of thing. It would be unethical of the present government to be so blase as say "we do not really care that the Moi govt f***ed the process up and left us with a problem child....lets take the investors money and run and thats it"....

I think there could be really serious consequences all around. The French are a big investor in Kenya...

Right now we cannot talk about taxes and Telkom Kenya being a bad entity....as of 2007 its NOT the same body. This is France Telecom as a main shareholder and with total management control. The GoK has a backseat (as it did in SCOM). However, it has certain commitments to uphold and obligations to its investors who came into the market on the premise that the playing field shall always be level as much as possible.

Finally...if you have complained about your taxes...and if you are an investor in any sense....to let Telkom suffer is to let your past taxes and future taxes go to waste. Same thinking as the bail outs in the US - why did Obama not let the financial and automotive sectors die away? Anyone?

Its actually FT that owns part of Telkom - Orange is an FT subsidiary and the brand for its mobile division.

@djinn can the same argument be applied to Safaricom's case? Protecting the interests of the investor and all?

Do not forget YU & Flashcom either... They would love taxpayer subsidies too...

Erm, there is a VVS Telecom as well... Please fell free to lobby subsidies for it too...

Since FT came in much later they knew the landscape coming in [I dont mean the sale of assets that were not there] just like Airtel did!

Basically, FT can't expect special treatment coz the playing field was level for all in Voice by the time Airtel came in... Telkom/Orange had an advantage over Zain/Airtel in that they have both CDMA + GSM license!

@Chris - no. In this particular case, I am only trying to argue for Telkom because it started out late as a privatised entity and unlike Vodafone who have reaped profits for 10 years, FT is yet to break even.

FT should not have come if they didn't want to compete.

This arguement of protecting Telkom still doesn't make sense. No one supporting it has given one sensible reason why we should defend Telkom.

Amazing...its like Safcon diehards who are upset we are calling at 3/=.

Illogical.

@Abunuasi, 4G and video idea very good, but think about the numbers, could they get the needed critical mass to sustain video calls as a competitive advantage?
2. Safcom's diversification into computer and handset sales, can they expand fast enough and into the mass market (outside Nairobi)?
Only when the answers to these questions are in the affirmative, then Safcom can sustain its edge against a brutal bully that Airtel seems to be.

@Kularaha, Jua mingi: I bet Dr. Ndemo was right in looking at the aspect of unhealthy competition. All the job losses as highlighted in reduced sales (Who uses 500 and 1k scratch cards anymore?). Airtel will repatriate its profits/and losses too. The subscribers maybe the happy lot now. Lets enjoy it.

While at it Zain seemed the saviour to most pple when they were the 1st to lower to 3 bob. It seems to work since some pple are ignoring the fact that Safcom is still cheaper than Zain (2bob). Though it seems to have eased out since there is not as much activity from Zain calls as was initially. Therefore Safcom should lower charges of M-pesa, data before Zain spoils the party.

For investors, lets wait for Safcom at below 3.50 to enter on long term basis.

@mpenzi - I have ZERO upenzi for Telkom! At least Uchumi was an entity that tried to serve Kenyans!

In the 90s, Uchumi was king under an able CEO... then came kirubi's henchman & bye-bye Uchumi! I have no fond memories of Telkom!