At SlyKat - not much DSL is going down - main inhibitor is the cost the the DSL modem. Even the renewed Telkom are not having much luck retooling existing copper to provide DSL. So most initiatives are based on fibre to home (FTH) where aprtment blocks/etc are connected to fibre (by KDN mainly) while AK are using wireless (Wimax/VSAT - KDN are also doing some WiMax - esp for remote locations). Most LAST MILE access connectivity will be wireless (GPRS,CDMA,EDGE,WiMax,VSAT) etc but some will be fibre (to apartment blocks,big users like EABL,KQ,etc).

HTH

The problem with equality is that we desire that it be with those that have more than us rather that those that have less

@All,

The future in Telecoms is that the last hop will always remain wireless...GPRS,CDMA,EDGE,3G,Wimax and LTE...

The biggest challenges in any network rollout has always been backhaul means of carried traffic,coverage area and licence fees...

Kdn is better placed to harvest because their capex is one off and opex is on the lower side...the only they need to keep checking is that the ring is working and service disruption is minimal....with the emerging technologies backhaulers only stand to benefit....

ACCS,ZAIN,SAF,YU,ORANGE,WANAINCHI ONLINE,INFINITE.....etc...will have continously review and upgrade networks now in kenya you can do 7.2 mbps while LTE networks can do 14 mbps....like in Australia and Israel....

To cut the story short i wud invest heavily in Backhauling than providing data services...given that KDN is currently doing a lousy job.....
If ACCS does follow this path and even acquire KDN....i will hang in there for the long haul.......

Hurricanes don't just happen all year round. You got to wait till Q4 for them to start pounding the US[Southern parts].
Major foreign currencies are not weakening,the shilling is.
For me,with about 4 mobile telephony providers,that would mean good biz for advertising firms.We got Keroche to battle EABL and the sea cables making a landing early Q3,advertising/PR firms will have improved turnovers.Scan Group stands to reap,a good buy for a 16month period,at least.

When i see my purple,you see it not.

do u think what happened in the last financial year e.g the high turnover of senior managers plus their investment in RVR will contribute to low activity this year?
I Dont know the details but dont think so,companies re-organize from time to time. They must have an exit strategy in RVR if it becomes a liability,even then,RVR is a small % of their huge portfolio. Activity: I read somewhere that their new teams's strategy for early 2009 is to exploit the low prices at the NSE. I think they r buying now at low prices for long-term holding,which can only be good.

Do u think the co has a good Balance sheet strength to invest this year taking into account the Risk apparent in the economic status at present?
Whats a balance sheet? Ok,am kidding. U being in accounting/finance,u r better qualified to ans this one,unless ur role is to feed what appears as meaningless figures into sage,in which case we r at par. Stock gurus who watch centum can answer this one.

Whats your take on the Centum share?
I dont watch it much. My feeling is that this stock is so well diversified if ever there was a pulsemeter for the Kenyan economy,this is it! My thesis is that it will follow the economy,up or down. my take? this is a stock to jump into when it is down and wait for economic recovery or a bull run - whenever that is. I think this stock has made many experienced traders multi-millis coz of.... what?




When buying shares,ask yourself,would you buy the whole company?

@Seles83 - it will be a wintry day in hell before AK acquires KDN - Altech,a major tech firm from RSA acquired part of the Sameer Group (Swift in Kenya and some ISPs in UG and TZ) which KDN belongs to - bear in mind also that Zain belongs in the Sameer group. AK has a small slice in TEAMS while Zain/KDN have abt 10%. In SEACOM,IPS (Kenya,part of Aga Khan Foundation) have a big stake and I suspect the Sameers and Aga Khans are related somewhat so in both cables they may have a bigger pipe than AK alone (who may use their capacity in TEAMS and still need to lease more from other players) So when in comes to backhauling (all the way to Rwanda,Tz,Ug) Altech/KDN may be a more dominant player - AK is more of a retailer,while KDN is a whole saler - carrier of carriers. In 2009 AK may focus on the home segment since prices will come down drastically.

Having said that - I think it would be wise to hang on to AK,buy some more SCOM (they have a 20% stake in TEAMS),maybe some Sameer Africa and why not ScanGroup - anyoine wanting an edge in these hard times will need to up advertising. My two bits

I'd

Buts lets wait and see.

The problem with equality is that we desire that it be with those that have more than us rather that those that have less