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Feature: Nairobi entrepreneurs cash on set-top-boxes selling to upcountry dwellers

Xinhua, February 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chris Bwire put one by one the free-to-air decoders in boxes and taped them heavily before writing names and destination of where he will send them.

He had spent about an hour earlier testing the gadgets on a television set in his office in Nairobi's central business district to see whether they were working. All of the five set-top- boxes were in perfect condition.

After completing the packing, Bwire put them in a plastic bag and headed to a bus company about 200 meters away where he dispatched the gadgets to western Kenya.

It was the second time in the day he was sending the gadgets to people upcountry.

While Bwire is a computer technician, he is making good money from people upcountry who are buying the set-top-boxes through him because they are readily available and affordable in Nairobi.

"Most of those I have sold the gadgets in the last one week are teachers at a secondary school who want to migrate to digital broadcasting. My brother, who teaches at the school in Busia, is the one connecting them to me," he said, adding that they send cash via mobile money.

Bwire is selling the free-to-air gadgets at 43 U.S. dollars. Three dollars go to courier charges.

"I buy the gadgets in an electronic shop in Luthuli Avenue at 35 dollars, making five dollars on each, which I share with my brother. So far I have sold over 15 gadgets and more orders are still coming."

The 40 dollars he sells the gadgets is far much cheaper than the 49 dollars some traders in towns upcountry are selling as they take advantage of lack of competition.

Again, those upcountry residents who live far from towns have to spend a good amount of money on fare.

"I would be selling very many gadgets if it were not for the current TV blackout. It has slowed down my business because some people do not see the need to buy the set-top-boxes yet they will not watch their favourite channels."

A standoff between four TV stations, namely, KTN, NTV, Citizen TV and QTV, and regulator Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) over digital migration has thrown Kenyans into information darkness.

The media owners switched off the stations about two weeks ago just as CAK was planning to go into the second phase of migration that targeted upcountry towns where the bulk of Kenyans live.

"If the stations return on air, business would boom," noted Bwire, who has now suspended his daily work to concentrate on selling the decoders.

"There is good business in the decoders from Kenyans living upcountry as long as one knows where to buy them affordably. What is mainly found there are pay TV decoders, which come with monthly charges and people do not want that," noted Antony Muli, an insurance sales agent.

Muli also is buying and selling the gadgets to people in Kitui, Eastern Kenya, where he comes from at 40 dollars.

A survey by research firm Ipsos-Synovate shows that four out of ten Kenyans who own TV sets have bought set-top boxes. "Digital migration has brought many opportunities and only those who can see it will benefit. Not many people upcountry have acquired them which means there is still big business," said Bernard Mwaso of Edell IT Solution in Nairobi. Endi