By Kenfrey Kiberenge

Less than two decades ago, mobile phones were the epitome of class. Then, subscribers would display the gadgets in public and heads would turn. To say the least, a phone gave the owner bragging rights.

Then, subscribers could only be compared to owners of prestigious Hummer in 2007 when Prime Minister Raila Odinga imported one.

In early 1990s, the phones could cost as much as Sh300,000. And only Thuraya Satellite phones could function in a country that was yet to establish mobile phone network infrastructure.

With a phone in hand, you would enter a crowded room and, your social status notwithstanding, everyone would keep mum to listen to what you had to offer. But towards the end of 1990s, the ice was broken and more Kenyans could buy the gadgets.

Speaking at a media breakfast last month, during the Communication Commission of Kenya’s 10th anniversary, Director General Charles Njoroge said Kenya had only 15,000 subscribers in 1999. But today, one of the service providers enjoys at least 13 million subscribers against a total subscriber base of 17.6 million. From 2000, the mobile phone revolution kicked off in earnest.

However, the machines remained the low-end cell phones, but which could still deflate your pocket. Kenneth Ngugi, a retired secondary school teacher recalls buying his first phone, a Nokia 3310, at Sh15,000 and a SIM card at Sh2,500 in 2000. Today, the same retails at Sh999 and Sh20, respectively.

The retired teacher from Kirinyaga recalls how neighbours would wake him up even at night to make calls from his phone.

Subscriber base

He says the calling rates then were "crazy". Some network service providers were charging as high as Sh50 per minute to call. Even then the charges were at per-minute billing.

Ngugi says, "When ‘flashing’ (beeping) you had to be careful and swift because if the other person picked the call, you would be charged a full minute’s fee for a fraction a second," he says nostalgically.

And in 2001, a retail outlet advertised the Ericsson T29 as an "easy, elegant and well connected" phone.

CCK statistics imply that today phones are no longer a reserve of company chief executives, managers and high-ranking Government officials.

From primary school pupils, house-helps and shamba boys to journalists and CEOs, anybody can afford at least one. Mobile phone subscriber base has tremendously grown in the past decade and the gadgets have become flashier, with a variety of features and corresponding services.

Unknown to many, the premier mobile phone did not have a short messaging service (SMS) and could not reveal the caller’s name. Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo who owns a Thuraya cell phone — which he says he has retained as a souvenir — recalls how he could only use his cellular for "calls only".

"So big were they, with a long antenna, that they could not fit in a pocket. You had to have someone to always carry it for you," says the minister.

Today, it is completely the opposite: Cell phones are slim and most have no aerial.

Most of them now come with in-built still and video cameras, TV services, bluetooth, infrared, twin-SIM, MP3 and video players among other features, yet at a relatively low cost.

An average phone with such features will cost less than Sh10,000 today.

Strangely, due to growing competition, some service providers are now charging as little as nothing to call or send SMSs.

And to make a fashion statement with a phone one needs to buy the trendier Blackberry or iPhone, whose cost is also modest at between Sh10,000 and Sh40,000. But even with this, no one will notice you. The services offered by the modern-day mobile phones are mind-blowing, something that was unimagined a few years ago.

Just recently, KTN partnered with DStv and Safaricom to unveil the first ever mobile TV product in Kenya that enables subscribers to watch the station’s news live at no extra cost.

Nowadays, you also do not have to leave the house to browse the Internet, check emails or update your status on Facebook or Twitter.

With a cellular, all these services are available wherever you are. Mobile revolution in Kenya is better exemplified by the premier homegrown mobile money transfer invention of M-Pesa offered by Safaricom. Zain has a similar service known as Zap.

Ahead of Times

In March this year, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Nathan Eagle told a conference in the US: "Kenya has some mobile phone services that are years ahead of what we have right now."

And a US blogger recently wrote: "(In Kenya) Today you can use your phone to pay for cab rides… get money out of ATMs without owning an ATM card or even having a traditional bank account."

There is also the Sambaza service where a subscriber can load another’s phone with airtime.

And recently, some service providers unveiled a service that gives subscribers a choice of songs to entertain callers as they wait for the calls to be picked — a departure from the usual and boring tone.

There are four mobile phone service providers in Kenya namely Safaricom, Zain, Yu and Orange.