Safaricom – A Modest Proposal
In April of the last year, Indian telecoms giant Airtel bought Zain‘s mobile operations across 16 countries in Africa. But it was in Kenya that Airtel decided to launch its first competitive offensive in August…
Will the Real Mobile Impact Please Stand Up
I’ve just finished reading Jenny Aker and Isaac Mbiti’s Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa. This is an excellent paper and well worth the read. The authors have done a great job in tempering…
Africa and Television White Spaces
If you google “televisions white spaces”, you’ll see a small storm of news generated last week by the FCC’s finalising the rules for the use of television white spaces spectrum in the U.S. TV white…
The Importance of Being Local
I’m a big fan of Huawei‘s website. Like any good company they publish information intended for their clients, mobile operators. Reading their publications from the perspective of a mobile operator makes perfect sense but reading…
Use Universal Service Funds to Pay for Civil Society Participation in Telecom Regulation
Telecommunications markets are notoriously difficult to regulate effectively. Telecom operators wield a great deal of power thanks to their wealth and the effectively hold they have on their markets whether through landlines or spectrum licenses…