Telecommunications company Zain Kenya has taken issue with the selection process for the consultant appointed by government to review the Kenya Information and Communication Act 2010, saying the process was questionable.
Zain Kenya Managing Director René Meza said that industry players were not involved in appointing of the Brussels-based Frontier Economics for the job.
“We don’t feel that the changes in the regulations translate to the consensus and views that we had with regards to these laws in Kenya,” Meza said adding they were surprised at the appointment.
According to Meza, industry players were only engaged in picking out the contentious bits of the law, but were left out when a consultant was being appointed.
Frontier Economics was hired in June after mobile telephony market leader Safaricom opposed the new rules, saying the regulations risked reversing the gains made by the company over the years.
Among the regulations were dispute resolution, tariff regulations and compliance monitoring, inspection and enforcement regulations.
The others are fair competition and equality of treatment and interconnection and provision of fixed links, access and facilities regulations.
Meza said he did not feel the review creates a level playing field for all operators. He said while the review had stalled Zain’s quest to attain market leadership, it would not dent its goals.
“I do not think anything can stop our goal of market leadership given our relationship with the government and regulator as we seek to make calls affordable,” he said.
The stance taken by Zain has potentially opened yet another war of words between government and Zain.
But Meza said the views and the feelings of the company do not mean it is at war with government.
“We work very closely with the government; we will continue to work closely with the regulators but when things are not right we must point them out,” he said.
