The bid by Kenyan mobile operators Safaricom and Airtel Kenya to acquire the assets of yuMobile, has been approved by the Communications Authority of Kenya.
While they have been given the green light for the deal, there are a number of conditions attached to it. Safaricom and Airtel Kenya submitted their application at the end of February, and came to the agreement that Airtel would receive yuMobile’s subscribers, and Safaricom its infrastructure.
“The CAK has provided a 6-month transition period to allow for seamless transfer of the services between the parties involved. The compliance of the three firms to the requirements will determine the final consent of the Authority for the sale and transactions between Essar Telkom, Safaricom and Airtel Kenya,” said Francis Wangusi, the CAK’s director general.
But a 6-month transition period wasn’t the only condition, as it is subject to guaranteed services to subscribers.
“Additionally, the authority is also requesting that Airtel submits the proposed Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the subscribers acquired from Essar Telecom. Consumer protection is one of the core mandates of the Authority. In considering its obligation, the Authority has asked the three firms to ensure that in their proposed arrangements guarantee seamless continuity of services to subscribers,” stated Wangusi.
According to CIO East Africa, “Safaricom has further been requested to provide its proposed framework for sharing its overall passive and active infrastructure with other licensed operators and service providers. Both Safaricom and Airtel have also been requested to submit their framework and an implementation plan that shows their commitment to facilitate national roaming to mobile subscribers on all mobile networks, with such facilitation being offered on similar terms and conditions to all networks.”
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
