They might poach a CEO from Airtel, Yu, Oranje . . . perhaps even from KCB or KQ

I bet for Airtel to beat Safcom, then they'll have to beat them at M-Pesa to surely get the numbers first. Later they can enter easily into data. Else they should have a strategy to concentrate on voice, voice, voice. Betting on the idiot CEO after MJ's departure might not be an ideal strategy to beat them.

I also bet Airtel apart from poaching MJ should devise innovation strategies and maybe poach heavily from Safcom's technical and management teams.

Now looking at all these possible scenarios, Vodacom and GoK need to devise counter strategies these could look like:
1. Consolidate M-pesa - maybe the M-Kesho way
2. Poach MJ's replacement from BBK, KCB, KQ.
3. Consolidate dominance in data - the Opra Mini style.
4. Delay changes to number portability - the same way as with Communications Act 2010.
5. Employ more anthropologists

In MHO, this is no mean tusk for Airtel as for Safcom survival, it survives in the short term and in the long term its all upto its future strategies.

i will not be suprised if super ongea taariff becomes consistently cheaper all day long.

So is this how it's going to end? Other companies wafunge virago na waondoke? Seems so. Safaricom has weathered the storm. They have matched the calling and SMS rates of their rivals (and being market leader has enabled them to charge higher by a shilling to other networks) They improved Mpesa. Only thing they need to work on is their network. Meza had threatened to go lower if Safaricom followed suit. He's awfully quiet. I can't imagine calls being 1 shilling a minute and SMS's free. Unless on launching their 3G, they give rock bottom rates, let's say 50 cents per MB, HAWATOBOI! Safaricom will announce reduced profits, but from that point onwards, the march will be unstoppable. Having said that, bado siezi igusa NSE. But Safaricom has to be praised. That was the best defensive strategy I've seen since Mourinho and Inter beat Barcelona in the Champions League last year

hisah, Kenyans are not the most thrifty people in the world. However, MPESA still has the most agents. Hata kwa butchery! This omnipresence is a huge advantage for them. I like your idea of Airtel making calls 1 shilling and crashing Safaricom's network. But would they be able to take the hit?