France Telecom prepares Kenyan telecom companies for competition.

France Telecom which owns the majority stakes in Telkom Kenya has signed the start of a pricing war in the country’s fast growing telecommunication industry.
Managing Director Dominique Saint-Jean said the firm was launching a new image for Telkom Kenya. France Telecom added its ‘Orange’ image into Telkom Kenya’s green image for the launch of the mobile phone service.
France Telecom owns 51 percent in the fixed line telecommunication player have announced that it has injected US$82 million into the Kenyan branch. They believe that there is big potential for telecom services in Kenya.
According to Dominique the economic and environment has allowed for 1.5 million internet users and 14 million mobile users. France Telecoms operates in 15 Africa countries and entered into Kenya after winning a tender process.
“This partnership has enabled us to make the levels of investment; that means we can commit to delivering world class services to Kenyans. It has also given us access to industry expertise and a strategic alliance which is helping Telkom Kenya to achieve even more success,” Dominique added.
Since 1999 Telkom Kenya has started a monopoly, that provides international gateway services to all telephony players in Kenya, the deal has since expired in 2005. Telkom Kenya is now facing Safaricom and Zain that have expanded their mobile operations across the country.

By IT News Africa Staff reporter