Small piece in the Thursday Daily Nation about how Telkom Kenya will soon introduce CDMA mobile landline phones (made by Huawei of China) and these will work within 120km of one’s Nairobi home – and enable calls to be made to other landlines at about 4/= per minute, well below mobile rates of 20/=. So instead of carryting two phones (one safaricom, one celtel), some pople will carry one mobile, one landline and use whichever is appropriate or convenient
Aint that good news! Kshs 4 per minute thats a deal in todays economy.
I just hope they work, considering Telkom’s track record.
wow, that’s major news. Am curious whether the new CDMA phone will have sms capabilities (I sorta doubt, i think cdma tech is not really easy to work with in terms of providing sms – ama aje maitha? It might take awhile to do it, but its possible.)
good news indeed.
Good news I must say!
Related articles on CDMA
CDMA operators are especially well positioned to ride the growing MMS wave as they leverage the advantages of their new high-speed CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO networks and the availability of a growing range of imaging-capable handsets. MMS can be delivered over CDMA2000 1X at an average speed of 60-100 kbps with peak at 153 kbps, while 1xEV-DO data networks offer speeds of 480-1200 kbps with peak at 2.4 Mbps. There are more than 280 CDMA2000 devices in the global market, and those devices increasingly come standard with color displays and built-in cameras, perfectly suited for MMS.
CDMA operators have been quick to seize the revenue-generating opportunities inherent in MMS. They are also using MMS to differentiate themselves from competitors. KDDI of Japan, along with SK Telecom and KT Freetel of South Korea, were the first operators in the world to offer multimedia messaging. And, across the Pacific, Sprint has introduced innovative MMS services in the U.S. market
GOOD ARTICLE ON CDMA
http://www.compareindia.com/tips/code-division-multiple-access.htm
good info mpenda pesa…
Sprint(US) was having a tough time providing sms service since they use cdma, they did finally figure it out, meanwhile they lost some market share to its competitors (amongst other reasons)
MMS offerings are definitely exciting, people will want more MMS capable phones…the boom continues i presume.
Concerning the article
Telkom Kenya are not licensed to provide Mobile Cellular Services in Kenya… as in like Safaricom and Celtel Kenya (and Econet?).
They may use CDMA and other wireless technologies for covering the ‘Last Mile’ – usually about 50km – aka Wireless Local Loop. Most Local Loop Operators are using CDMA for the last mile anyway.
So Mobile Phones using Telkom’s cdma network nah.. i don’t think so. Safaricom & Celtel would sue anyway..
I think we should throw a party for the Telkom crew. They are actually thinking technology!!!!!!
If they endelea like this, might actually think seriously bout taking part in a Telkom IPO if it does happen as Kibaki promised.
Might I say that’s extremely good business sense for Telkom. Way to go!
This just proves what can happen when companies lose their monopolies.
Flashcom introduced CDMA in Nairobi just recently and the only way telcom can maintain it’s market share in the fixed voice business is to also introduce a WLL product.
A price war is looming and we can now look forward to getting landlines as easily as we get mobile phones.
As it is Flashcom is 3kshs/minute http://www.flashcom.co.ke/tariffs.html
What they do not have (And telcom is busy trying to protect) is market share. Ensuring most people make calls within the same network, keeps costs low and avoids the expense of interconnecting charges.
All the best though I’m still too sceptical of how the bloated company will survive.
Ken
sassy: believe it only when it happens
Prousette: Jambo online their recent offering has had a few rough spots
AfroM & Mpenda: Not sure about their plans for SMS and MMS
The Alpha Quadrant: Government may bend a few rules to keep Telkom afloat and viable for privatization e.g. by giving them some limited mobile services waiver
Kibet: Don’t party, till it happens, and I don’t expect IPO this year
Mimmz: Ngoja tu
Ken: I wish Flashcom would make their marketing more understandable
You are right Bankelele that’s what happens when a bunch of techies think they can run a company on their own.
They have cashflow issues and clearly lack a passionate sales force.
I am still curious to see how Flashcom works in the long run.