The future may not be that Orange

Before Telkom Kenya rolled out Orange Mobile, it was felt that France Telecom is what was needed to revolutionize the market and lower costs.

But the admission by Telkom that the costs can not get lower because of satellite costs shows that the price will remain high. The same pricing model and same old excuses given by Zain and Safaricom are the same that Orange has adopted.

Econet Wireless, which has taken five years to roll out services, now has an opportunity to offer competitive prices or join the cartel of the providers and assume the same excuses.

What is surprising is that two months down the line, Orange may lower the costs of calling across networks to 6 Kenya shillings, especially if it does not achieve its targets. The question will be -- what will have changed?

The same way we wonder why the pricing competition forced reduction of call costs while over the years Safaricom and Zain have used the high satellite costs and taxation as the reason for maintaining high prices.

Business dictates that the French investors will seek to recoup their investment, but they must also seriously challenge Safaricom. If they charge the same, Safaricom can still maintain its dominance and level of service.

Telkom argues that it will bank on superior quality of service and customer care. It is commendable that Orange has outsourced customer care to a local call center, but they must live up to the hype.

Whether the future is Orange or not, only time will tell.