Skip to main content

IS THIS THE DEATH OF SIM APPLICATION TOOLKIT (STK)?

STK as it appears on the phone menu and left after its opened
SIM Application Toolkit (commonly referred to as STK) is a standard of the Global System for Mobile (GSM) system which enables the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to initiate actions which can be used for various value-added services. Most of the mobile banking solutions use STK (SIM application toolkit) to create secure, verifiable channels for transactions. Although STK is claimed to be more secure, it has the limitation that changes and upgrades require either that the SIM be exchanged or that the SIM, phone and network is set up to use secure SMS SIM updating in other words The STK technology has limited independent development support available. Maybe that explains why we have had an exodus of networks moving to the USSD codes.

USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network. Applications may include prepaid roaming or mobile chatting and of recent mobile banking. USSD is similar to Short Messaging Service (SMS), but,unlike SMS, USSD transactions occur during the session only. With SMS, message scan be sent to a mobile phone and stored for several days if the phone is not activated or within range.

Today takes me back to a few years ago when I painfully had to abandon a cherished LG windows phone simply because it didn't have a STK menu. But before that I had consistently wrote to the support staff of LG and Microsoft for this issue to be resolved, hoping that maybe one day an upgrade would come up that would enable me to use that menu.
When Warid entered the market at that time it rendered the use of STK irrelevant since we could do every thing with simple USSD commands right from airtime share to self help. All you needed was a USSD code and you were on the go actually I can count the number of times I visited its STK menu.

USSD code and Orange money USSD transaction menu.
This was not the case with MTN whose has been a strong advocate for the STK (Sim Tool Kit) because it had mobile money, Me2U and all other self help services on it and USSD codes were a preserve for checking airtime balance.

Warid further added a nail on the STK coffin with the introduction of a USSD Warid Pesa transaction menu, which in my view was more reliable, stable as compared to MTN mobile money which was consistently off because of network failure. Its until late last year if my memory has not failed me that MTN introduced USSD based mobile money transaction menu after a series of upgrades.
In Africa and other developing economies, USSD has proved sufficiently secure and robust to underpin mobile banking without having the update problems associated with STK. That explains why Mtn has been pushing its subscribers to adopt to its new USSD mobile money platform.

Now that MTN has upgraded its Mobile money and with an emphasis on *165# as you have already witnessed in the several Ads in the media, could this be the final nail in the STK coffin since one of its royal advocate is shunning away? Who says that we cant hold those phone that dont come with STK menu.

Welcome to the World where USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) rules.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can social distancing prevent the spread COVID-19 in Uganda?

Source: Petrol/CanStockPhoto In a country where most people live hand to mouth, and most business rely on daily consumer spend, advising people to stay home isn't viable. The brutal truth about social distancing is that people will loose wages and jobs. This will change the course of their lives in a traumatic way. We need to be able to sacrifice for each other, not only for the people who are vulnerable to Coronavirus but also to the people who maybe hurt and lose their livelihood as a result of social distancing. To some people losing their only source of survival is death in itself. Limiting social, prayer and political gathering to only 10 people while Owino, Kikuubo, Nakasero market, Nasser road and taxi parks(the most crowded places in Uganda) remain open is counter productive and defeats the understanding of many. It's similar to leaving your clothes in the dirt to dry after washing. And am not saying that these places should be closed, just pointing to the fla
2 comments
Read more

THE HUSBAND WHOSE WIFE LEFT

He was shocked. He had been coming back home from an overtime shift with a bag of groceries for dinner, but there was nothing that could prepare him for this.  The apartment was empty: no wife, no kids. Just some old memories of what was, only a few days ago of an ordinary family life. He felt his legs sink, the knee caps shake and just like boiled spaghetti, his boneless body shrunk and gradually collapsed to the floor.  A shock of fear, a dread of not knowing. A sadness, a loneliness, a grief, a fear: it all came like an ocean wave, all at once. It all came as a single wave of pain and misery, an overwhelming feeling that nothing would ever again be okay. He rushed to the bedroom calling the kids name - Opio, Akello, Opio, Akello. The loud and chaotic response of "Yes Dad" was no more.  There, in the kids room, he found a simple note on the floor. He unfolded the letter and read it. His eyes widened as he read the note over and over again, each time feeling the dread inside
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 12 of Reading The Purpose Driven Life

You're so close to God as you choose to be. Your friendship with God won't happen by mistake, it takes desire, time and energy. If you want an intimate, deeper connection with God, then you must work towards developing it.  An intimate relationship with God requires that you are totally honest with him about your faults and feelings. He doesn't require you to be perfect but He requires honesty, none of God's friends in the Bible was perfect. If perfection was a requirement, we would never be his friends. A deeper relationship with God also requires total obedience in him through faith. Trusting and doing what God says, even when you don't understand it, will deepen your relationship with him. Jesus said, "you're my friend if you do what I command ".  Friends care about what's important to the other person, the same applies to your relationship with God. You must choose to value what he values, the more you do that, the deeper your relationship w
Post a Comment
Read more