Telkom Kenya plans to merge with Bharti Airtel to challenge Safaricom
Nairobi — Telkom Kenya plans to merge operations with Indian-owned Bharti Airtel’s local unit as a first step to acquiring all of Airtel’s assets, sources said on Tuesday, creating a stronger challenger to market leader Safaricom. The two operators have a combined 23% of Kenya’s 41-million mobile subscribers, but have long struggled to compete with Safaricom, which has a 71.9% market share. The disparity is even wider in revenue terms, with Safaricom, which is 35% held by SA’s Vodacom, enjoying more than 90% in both voice and short messages categories. Data from the country’s communications authority regulator showed Safaricom also has close to 90% of the annual revenue from the internet access business. It also has a commanding lead in cellphone money transfers with its M-Pesa service, which is regulated by the central bank. A source at the communication authority said the two firms have been engaging officials over the plan to share outlets and infrastructure, such as transmission...
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