The battle of the ring tones: boon for artists

Following the introduction of a caller ring back tone service by mobile phone operator Zain- branded ZIKI; Safaricom has also introduced its own service by the name SKIZA.

The service enables subscribers to choose a preferred song and set it as their ring back tune for callers to listen to while waiting for the call to be picked up.

To use a single tune, Zain customers have to pay a monthly fee of Sh40 and while Safaricom has pegged its fee at Sh.25.

While the competition between the networks intensifies, its good news for the local musicians who stand to generate additional revenue in licence fees paid for use of their music as ring tones.