Consumers shy away from CDMA mobiles

CDMA mobile phones introduced into the Kenyan market about five years ago are lagging behind their GSM counterparts in the lucrative market.

Total CDMA mobile subscribers in Kenya are less than 400,000 while total GSM mobile subscribers are about 17 million.

In the second quarter, global CDMA subscribers stood at half a billion compared with GSM’s four billion.

Africa had 25 million subscribers with CDMA and 415 million with GSM.

CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access, a mobile technology that supports voice and data, just like its rival, Global Systems for Mobile communications (GSM), against which it is competing for supremacy elsewhere in the world.

A spot check among mobile shops indicates that few dealers have stocks of CDMA mobiles.

The mobiles are limited to a few models, all having price tags of less than Sh4,000.

One put off, analysts say, is lack of integration that has limited the uptake of the mobiles which do not allow access to the more popular GSM networks.

CDMA subscribers are tied to networks of specific service providers like Telkom Kenya, Flashcom, or E.M. Communications.

The structure of tariff charges by service providers and the fact that they are volatile has resulted in users preferring GSM mobiles that affords them the opportunity to take advantage of tariff rates at any given moment.

“The models of CDMA mobiles sold locally do not measure up to the performance of GSM mobiles in terms of internet speeds and other features,” said Mr Salim Kithinji, a technology expert with Symbiotic Media Consortium.

Telkom Kenya is the dominant player on the CDMA platform and observers say that the main affliction of the mobiles arises from confusion of consumers in the transition following the acquisition of Telkom Kenya by France’s Orange Mobile.

“Consumers ended up being confused. At first, the service they were associated with was called Telkom Wireless, and then later it was branded Orange Fixed Plus. Their visibility in the market has also been poor,” said George Gichuki, a customer service employee at Telkom Kenya.

He adds that most mobile consumers are not first-time buyers.

“They want more functionality from their mobile phones,” he said.