1. GROUP THREE
TECHNOLOGICAL ADAPTATION OF SAFARICOM VS AIRTEL CASE STUDY
GROUP MEMBERS
Carlos Kenga
Antony Chege
Dennis Mutua
Adi l ennox
Rachel Amanga
Brian kipkemoi
susan kimani
Jones Titus
2. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, technology and information has become an important ingredient in today’s success. In that, we have seen so
many companies, businesses and even people overtaking each other and becoming great and successful due to
technology competition. That’s why it’s stated that, if you have the most current and valuable information and more so
technology, then you are not far to success. Therefore, this summary paper, will put an emphasis on the technological
adaptation between Safaricom Versus Airtel, their brief backgrounds on how they performed in the market and what
really has made one to dominate over the other.
Background overview of Safaricom and Airtel
Both Safaricom and Airtel are Internet or telecommunications Service Providers (ISP). Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly
known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18
countries across South Asia and Africa as well. It was founded in 7th July 1995 by Sunil Bharti Mittal. It was launched in
Kenya in 2000 as Kencell, then to Celtel and rebranded to Zain in 2008 and finally Airtel in 2010.
On the other hand, Safaricom was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya with Michael
Joseph serving as the founding CEO. It is based in Safaricom House, Nairobi, Kenya.
Therefore, even as though Airtel was launched a bit late than Safaricom in Kenya, it had been already in the game since it
was already operating in some parts of Asia. Thus, Airtel Kenya had a basic ground on how they would effectively
articulate their operations for success. However, this is not the case as Safaricom had been a great competitor to Airtel
ever since and that is why it rebranded all the way from Kencell to Airtel due to stiff competion by Safaricom. This
competition especially in technology adaptation by Safaricom has made it to be the largest telecommunications provider
in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region.
3. How Airtel has been adapting to Technology
Both Airtel and Safaricom have been offering almost the same services but only a few improvisations have been keeping Safaricom on top
of Airtel to how effectively it adapts to the new technology in order to satisfy the needs and interest of customers. Some of the basic
Airtel services are; broadband, digital television, banking, business, android-based tablet etc. Below is how Airtel tried to adapt to
technology in Kenya to enable it to remain in the game;
Growth driven by data and e-Commerce solutions - Airtel recognized that offering affordable and quality internet access is key to
enabling customers achieve more in their daily lives. Airtel launched its 3.75G platform in February 2012, Airtel thus introduced the
fastest mobile internet in Kenya, offering its customers the latest global High Speed Packet Access. The company also offered daily,
weekly and monthly data bundles that enabled its customers to embrace a highly mobile way of working with high speed access to
email and internet and get more of their favorite downloads and to interact on the social media online.
Airtel Money - Airtel Money was launched in August 2011. The Airtel money mobile commerce platform offered a simple, easy to use
customer friendly access menu that made it faster and convenient for customers and dealers to carry out transactions. The platform
provided consumers with a robust offering of products that cuts across mobile banking, service payments, airtime top up and money
transfer services.
Airtel Mobile Units - The Airtel Mobile Units were was launched on September 2012. Offering tailor-made product and services
targeting acquisition and retention of customers, the mobile communication vehicles units crisscrossed the vast urban and rural
terrains in pursuit of customer service excellence. These units enabled customers and prospective customers to be able to carry out
Airtel services as if they would be at an Airtel or Airtel agent shop, including money deposits and withdrawals on Airtel Money.
Those are just some of the strategies that Airtel tried to effectively adapt to technology but yet didn’t outshine Safaricom.
4. How Safaricom has been Adapting to Technology over its competitor
As stated earlier that both Airtel and Safaricom have been competing in almost providing the same services to their customers. The only thing with the
Latter is how it effectively adapts to new technology and services that suite customer’s interests, which enables it compete well over its rival. Some of the
Safaricom services generally include; it offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music
streaming, and fiber optic services and more.
The points below outlines how Safaricom has been technologically adapting in its operations to make sure it remains on top of its rival;
Flashback service (Please Call Me) - Flashing is the practice of calling another mobile user, but disconnecting before the connected call is answered. It
provides a method for mobile users to alert someone that they wish to be called, but either can't, or won't, pay for the call. The method is cost-free
for the users. In turn, Safaricom introduced a flashback service that gave every subscriber five free SMS messages with a single predefined message
stating "Please call me. Thank you“. This service is very useful when one is in trouble and has no airtime.
Kipokezi service - Safaricom launched the Kipokezi service in May 2000 that enabled its subscribers to send and receive email and online chat through
standard mobile phones. The service does not require users to have an Internet connection as it uses ForgetMeNot Africa’s Handset Initiation
technology. The Kipokezi launch allowed more than a third of the population to exchange email and online chat messages.
Lipa Mdogo Mdogo - In Partnership with Google, Safaricom introduced Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, a product targeting individuals with 2G phones by
upgrading them to 4G enabled devices while paying daily installments of Ksh.20 over a period of one year.
M-PESA - M-PESA is a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and micro financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom
and Vodacom. Safaricom is most renowned as the home of MPESA. This application has been regarded by Kenyan as safe in money transactions. This
is what really gave power to Safaricom over its rival.
M-TIBA- is a health payment application or ‘e-wallet’ that enables low income earners to save towards their healthcare expenses and helps donors to
target funds accurately and confidently.
FULIZA – is an overdraft facility that allows our customers to complete their transaction in case of insufficient funds.
SOMA NA SHUPAVU - An SMS- and USSD-based education platform that enables students to study without an internet connection.
Masoko – is an e-commerce platform that creates opportunities for customers to access locally manufactured goods from anywhere in Kenya. 64% of
vendors on the platform are SMEs and we work with local manufacturers to help them grow their businesses through e-commerce.
5. What makes Safaricom greater over its immediate competitor (Airtel)
Apart from the range of services that have greatly contributed to the success of Safaricom over Airtel, there are those strong
technological building blocks that have really enabled Safaricom to be the dominant player in the market. This is because
through them then Safaricom has enabled it to come up with interactive and efficient services to their customers. It is through
this technological improvements that have enabled safaricom to effectively provide good services to its customers
The include;
Incredible networking services - most people have preferred to adopt a Safaricom Simcard because of its exemplary services
like M-Pesa, Fuliza, Reverse calls etc. This has really attracted many customers to safaricom.
Safaricom’s high connectivity speed - Airtel tried to introduce data bundles and calls subscription which lasts for a long
period compared to those that are offered by Safaricom. Most people complain a lot about airtel communication and
connectivity. This is not the case to safaricom, though safaricom has low data plans, their crazy internet speed has make it to
be liked by many users. This is because Airtel gives users many bundles yes, but its low internet connection makes the
bundles less effective.
High number of satellites countrywide – Safaricom has large number of satellites in the country as compared to Airtel. This
has enabled it to escalate communication and connectivity excellence.
Wide 4G network coverage - . Airtel has traditionally been liked by a lot of people, but its 4G coverage, while being cheap, is
limited to select towns in the country. This effectively makes it slower. While on the Safaricom has enabled its 4G network to
be operational in the whole country. This suites many users as anybody anywhere can have access to the network services as
compared to Airtel.
6. Conclusion
In order to grow exponentially and stay relevant, it is important to modify your business structures and adopt new ways to offer
the best to customers. This is what Safaricom has been doing many years ago, and today they are still waxing stronger offering
the best to customers and expanding their business. If Airtel had enforce technological adaptation effectively earlier enough than
Safaricom and went about it the right way, they probably would be the undisputed champion and still remain relevant in the
game.
Therefore, customer experience is king, that’s the importance of the customer journey mapping process when it comes to lifting
a business or an organization to another level, and changing the game. Safaricom’s success resulted from the continuous effort
of understanding the customer journey and delivering value driven, customer co-created, and network connected services.
So when it comes to innovation and defining any new service, one should not forget to map the customer journey the way
Safaricom is doing.
References
www.airtel.com
www.safaricom.com
Wikipedia.com
www.opera.com
Techmoran.com
