Good day peeps!

After Airtel announced its decision to discontinue BIS subscription on non-bb devices, my curiousity was aroused and this got me thinking. I mean, why would Airtel decide to stop BIS on non-bb devices? When it doesn't seem like allowing the service to run on these devices will cause any short-fall in its income streams from BIS (atleast that was what was in my mind and in the minds of some people i guess). Besides, one would think that stopping this service from running on non-bb devices would likely cause the company to lose revenue and potentially reduce its subcriber's base, making the company to look foolish in taking such a decision.

But come to think of it, a telecoms company like Airtel that has been one of the dominant forces in the Nigerian telecommunication sector for over 11 years with subscriber's base of over 80 million can not just take a decision without first considering its impact.

Looking at why Airtel would have come with this decision from my own point of view after taking a microscopic look at the whole scenario, can be circled down to the contract Airtel would have entered with Blackberry in the use of Blackberry's internet infrastructure which has been widely acclaimed to be one of the best in the world, with most Fortune 500 companies currently buying into the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). But we all know that in recent times, Blackberry has been having challenges keeping itself afloat in the market. With sales of its smart phones nose diving and the company losing market share to other dominant brands like Apple and Samsung, and lately to Tecno especially in the Nigerian market. Blackberry has come up with strategies to continue surviving the fierce competition in the market, it has currently strengthened its mobile data management package, the Blackberry Enterprise Server 10.2 which has even been updated to run on Android and IOs and to the company, is seen as its "crown jewel". And with the 1billion dollars strategic investment the company also sought for, it definitely has ditched its initial idea of putting the company up for sale.

When we connect the dots in the whole of this situation and with the company's hope of staying alive, i think it won't be far fetched to say that the company is also closing other loop holes there might be in its contracts signed with various telecoms giants around the globe in the use of its enterprise server.

Let's share other ideas too as to why Airtel decided to stop BIS on non-bb devices.

Cheers!

Reference: www.zdnet.com/blackberry-beefs-up-android-and-ios-device-management-is-bes-now-its-crown-jewels-7000023919/

Let's all come together to share ideas. I want us all to look at this issue together and chart a way forward instead of complaining with a wrong judgement in mind. Thanks

Bros... U dn fail the course ooh !

Airtel has blocked the bis thing cos it can't handle the the traffic. It does not have the bandwidth. If it did, this would not have happened.

Intact no telco can supply the bandwidth Nigeria demands. They are not expanding capacity at any rate.

The only company with solid internet backbone is mtn. Unfortunately, demand is growing and even mtn can't handle it.

It all comes down to lack of vision and poor management. They will only upgrade , if fatally threatened, until then ... They'll just keep the engines running at 70‰ , sell what they can with the least investment. A business plan that can only work in Nigeria.

We desperately need an European or north American company in the game. Na dat time u go see show !

PS: Bis go soon turn 750

Love_Decay: Bros... U dn fail the course ooh !

Airtel has blocked the bis thing cos it can't handle the the traffic. It does not have the bandwidth. If it did, this would not have happened.

Intact no telco can supply the bandwidth Nigeria demands. They are not expanding capacity at any rate.

The only company with solid internet backbone is mtn. Unfortunately, demand is growing and even mtn can't handle it.

It all comes down to lack of vision and poor management. They will only upgrade , if fatally threatened, until then ... They'll just keep the engines running at 70‰ , sell what they can with the least investment. A business plan that can only work in Nigeria.

We desperately need an European or north American company in the game. Na dat time u go see show !

PS: Bis go soon turn 750

Thanks for the post man!

Now for the points raised. First, this company has come a long way not to seize the opportunity in increasing its bandwith in the Nigerian mobile data market, with the likes of Glo rolling out fibre optic cables a couple of years ago just to meet up demand capacity in the mobile data market and stay relevant with the ever growing competition; I mean, its a no brainer! Who wouldn't want to sell water to the inhabitants of the Kalahari desert (if any)? For a multinational company like Airtel? The likes of Dangote within the shores of Nigeria easily get loans from financial institutions at home and abroad, let alone a telco giant like Airtel. My curiousity goes beyond this to tell me that there's more to that decision of theirs than meets the eyes.

So, lets still come up with more ideas on why Airtel came up with the decision, and if there're other networks that have come up with a BIS plan to take off from where Airtel left off, let's share it here!