An inventor who moved to court seeking Ksh75 billion compensation from Vodacom, has turned down Ksh354 million offered to him by the company.
Nkosana Makate 44, declined the amount saying it was too little – and instead demanded Ksh75 billion.
Mkate who is a former Vodacom employee claims he came up with the concept of “please call’ which he shared with his employer – and which has been used since 2001 by the telecommunication service provider.
“Please Call Me” concept, which is also in use in Kenya, involves sending a free text to a recipient and asking them to call back.
The matter has been in the courts for years – and now the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria is keen to have it finalized.
Kenyans will be following the developments given Vodacom is sister company to Kenya’s mobile giant Safaricom which also uses the “Please call me” messaging service.
Mkate could be headed for a good pay day taking into consideration the fact that an earlier judgement made in 2014 supported his claim to having originated the concept.
In an appeal in 2016, Makate also won his legal bid to have Vodacom pay him for inventing the popular messaging service.
Vodacom CEO Shaamel Joosub offered the former employee R47 million, but Makate declined the amount saying it was too little.
The company had argued that “Please call me” did not generate any revenue for Vodacom as subscribers were not charged for the service.
“It was offered for free. The intended plan to charge for it after an initial period was abandoned, since there were many similar services in the market, which were offered for free. It’s not, nor ever has been a money-spinner.”
Makate’s lawyers claimed “Please call me” had generated at least Ksh 1.5 trillion) in call revenue for Vodacom since 2001.
The courts will now have to make a determination on the matter.