The gloves are on and the first punch has been thrown!

Zain Kenya’s recent tariff cuts by more than 50% are all the rage in Kenya at the moment. Bharti which recently acquired the operations of the second largest Mobile Network Operator (MNP) in Kenya has started their reign with deep controversy.

Ratio Magazine today had an interesting column accusing Zain of unfair play and having ulterior motives in the tariff reductions and their accusations of malicious acts by rival and largest Kenyan MNP, Safaricom. Zain has claimed that Safaricom has been blocking it’s calls and SMS while Safaricom argues that this is not so and has gone on to claim that the issue is simply a matter of congestion on Zain’s network following their price cuts. Ratio Magazine writes:

It is curious that Zain should only request the capacity increase on the evening of the first day of the new tariff: As an experienced network operator, the company must have anticipated the congestion on their network following the announcement, and should have planned for this. Since the protocol governing such reciprocal capacity increase allows for up to seven days for the implementation – a fact that Zain are aware of since it is part of the contractual agreement between both companies -, it appears profoundly dishonest to attempt this with frantic evening calls and then claim that Safaricom were unwilling to move on the request. Zain have no legal basis to accuse Safaricom of sabotage, and actually appears to have outstanding interconnection fees due to Safaricom.

Well, as the big boys fight, the consumers enjoy the fruits of the potentially emerging price war. Kenyans have been long anticipating price wars in bandwidth costs following the landing of submarine fiber cables, and to date their hopes have largely been unmet. It seems like some kind of relief to at least have a price war in the mobile arena.