Tuesday 20 May 2008

Price Wars!

A long time ago in a country not so far away...

The evil monopoly of the sole operator affectionately known as 'Posta' draws to a close. It is the dawn of new area, people all over celebrate the arrival of the new operators who will give them the freedom to communicate. Slowly everywhere what was previously a status symbol finds its way into the hands of the ordinary mwananchi. However the costs are high, they have to 'recoup their investment' they say.

A battle ensues, one of them does not read the market well enough and falls to the wayside. The other continues to gain more and more market share until it becomes almost another monopoly. Congestion sets in, people get well acquainted with the words 'mteja hapitakani' so much so that they become part of the vocabulary. Still they hang on after all the services are cheap(within the network). The second player is down but not out, tries to get back in the game but nothing doing, the force is too strong.

However more is happening in the galaxy, two new players are coming in, this could herald a new age of competition. An oracle predicts that soon the rates will go down to 2 bob. Even before the words can be digested we hear 3 bob being mentioned somewhere with a swift response of 10 bob from the other side...

The story unfolds...