Safaricom confident of market leadership

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By Macharia Kamau

Safaricom is upbeat of maintaining its position as the market leader in spite of the entry of two new mobile operators.

Speaking two days after Econet Wireless launched its Yu brand, Safaricom Chief Executive Michael Joseph said the company is neither worried nor will it make haphazard tariff cuts to beat competition.

"We knew that there would be intense competition by the end of this year," he said.

Econet Wireless long awaited entry comes hot on the heels of the launch of Telkom Kenya’s Orange mobile service in September.

Though Joseph contended competition might compel Safaricom to lower cross network calling rates in coming months, he said this was not definite, noting that pricing wars are not sustainable if the operators are to sustain profitable operations.

"It would be easy for us to lower our tariffs but that would not make good business sense," he said.

The company commands over 80 per cent of the market and its cross network charges are the highest.

Joseph said that pricing was not the only factor that would see Safaricom remain the market leader but also quality services.

He said that the company would continuously improve on its infrastructure to ensure delivery of quality services.

Joseph spoke on Friday at a press briefing where he announced that the company had been named the best operator in a developing market at the World Communication Awards held in London on Wednesday, beating nominees from South Africa, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

This brings to three the number of awards that Safaricom has won in the last two weeks.

Last week, the company won two awards for its money transfer service, M-pesa, at the inaugural AfricaCom Awards held in South Africa.

Joseph said that the company has the vision of becoming the best company in Africa.