Telkom Kenya, Airtel seek merger to challenge Safaricom
Monday, February 11, 2019
Bharti Airtel’s Kenyan unit has agreed to combine operations with Telkom Kenya, creating the second-largest telecommunications operator in the East African nation after Safaricom.
Telkom, which is 60% owned by Helios Investment Partners and the rest by the Kenyan government, will have an option of taking as much as 49% of the new company, it said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The companies will merge mobile, enterprise and carrier services into the new entity to operate as Airtel-Telkom, according to the statement. Telkom’s real estate portfolio and government services are not part of the deal.
The company will take on industry leader Safaricom, which is partly owned by Johannesburg-based Vodacom Group and had 29.9 million users by end of September, according to the Communications Authority. That translated to a market share of 64.2%, compared to Airtel’s 22.3%.
Photo courtesy of Erik (HASH) Hersman.
Source: TechCentral (link opens in a new window)
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