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Taxify Becomes Bolt⚡!
Taxify has been around for the last 5 years, present in many countries including Ghana with one mission: to make urban transportation more convenient and affordable.
Starting as a Taxi dispatch service, the name Taxify suited aptly, but now, the Estonian company feels it has outgrown just Taxi rentals and now has adopted a new name to suit their change in focus, Bolt.
Bolt initially started out as a sub-brand of Taxify, offering short-term electric scooters for rental alongside their more mainstream car rentals.
The CEO and co-founder of Bolt, Markus Villig, is quoted in an interview saying, “We are bullish that the future is fully electric and so we wanted a name that moved us away from the combustion engine.”
Despite the initial furor and excitement surrounding this rebranding, the operation of Bolt has not been without its challenges. Aside from the fact that it is seen as the number two car rental service behind Uber, it has had a lot of trouble in the U.K., despite being active in over 30 countries around the world.
As a result of tension between chief rival Uber and the British government, Taxify has been denied a license to operate independently in the U.K., resulting in them attempting to purchase a small firm which already had it’s license in the U.K. to operate but it was quickly shut down after a couple of days.
Following this rebrand, Bolt is now willing to patiently wait for a license to operate in the U.K. and is willing to do this because London is the biggest ride-hailing market in Europe, making it too good a business opportunity to pass up.
Despite similar issues in other tense markets like Spain and Germany, Bolt has plans to expand into countries neighboring Estonia, namely Sweden and the like.
Aside from car and electric scooter rentals, Bolt is also committed to investing in engineers to help improve their services and offering more choice to their customers, as opposed to more costly ventures like self-driving cars, which Uber reportedly spent a whopping $2 billion on.
“Self-driving is completely overhyped,” Villig said dismissively of how a number of its rivals and would-be rivals are pursuing a strategy to build and therefore “own” autonomous car technology. “It will take at least another five years for anything to come out, and it’s clear that there will be a number of players who will be making self-driving technology, so our plan is to partner with them.”
Villig also revealed that Taxify made close to $1 billion dollars in gross revenue last year and that there have been some acquisition propositions but it’s nothing they are entertaining right now.
He likened Europe to the U.S. as a market where realistically there will only be two strong players, just as there are Lyft and Uber in the U.S.
That means ultimately someone will have to take the lead on consolidation, even if it doesn’t happen immediately.
“Many still the belief that ride-hailing is a winner-take-all model, but now it’s clear that’s not the case. Every geography will have one or two winners. That’s been the big shift.”
TLDR;
- Starlink has officially launched in Ghana, allowing users to purchase a kit directly from their website for Gh¢5604.00 (hardware and shipping) and Gh¢770.00/month (unlimited internet).
- The service aims to provide connectivity to underserved areas, such as remote communities, farms, and offshore rigs, rather than replacing existing urban infrastructure.
- Starlink’s presence in Ghana is expected to drive competition, prompting local telcos and ISPs to offer better internet deals, and potentially leading to more accessible and affordable connectivity solutions in the future.
After months of waiting and constantly refreshing the Stalink availability map, they have finally officially commenced operations in Ghana, They sent out emails to all those who signed up for their pre-order when they first made announcements of planning to set up operations in Ghana.
You can now go to their official website to get a kit and ship it directly to your house without going through any third party or middleman.
The official cost on their website is ¢770.00 a month for internet connectivity, which will be unlimited, and Gh¢5604.00 for Hardware and shipping.
For most people, paying ¢770.00 a month for unlimited internet is a really good deal, but they won’t take a step towards getting it because of the cost of the kit. But STARLINK is primarily meant to provide “CONNECTIVITY WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT” and not to replace Fibre and broadband options in the major cities or become that ubiquitous.
It is not their goal that every household should have a Starlink kit installed. But rather a lot of places where connectivity is & has been a major challenge up until now, get that solution. (ie. Remote areas, hinterlands, farms, on ships & boats, offshore rigs, mines & construction sites, etc)
However, they know how good the technology & solution are such that there’s increased demand and people would want to scale it up/utilize it by diversifying into other connectivity solutions; which might be more accessible or affordable for more people.
Starlink, the satellite internet company founded by Elon Musk, has received authorization from Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) to start operations by the end of August 2024. This approval comes after several months of discussions between the NCA and SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, primarily due to licensing and regulatory hurdles.
This milestone is viewed as a major boost for Ghana’s technological progress, given Starlink’s reputation for reliability across 102 countries.
Starlink operates using a network of low-Earth-orbit satellites that communicate with one another and with ground stations to provide high-speed, low-latency internet. This technology is well-suited for enhancing connectivity for both individuals and businesses.
Could the arrival of such a major international ISP see the local ISPs rise to the occasion, potentially leading to more innovative solutions and advancements in the sector or, would it simply blow them out of the water?
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