Airtel will not stop its push to have Safaricom declared a dominant player in the mobile telecommunication industry.
The company wants Communication Authority to enforce, among other regulations, the Fair Competition and Equality of Treatment Regulations which will result to any company controlling 51% market share declared dominant.
The company wants Communication Authority to enforce, among other regulations, the Fair Competition and Equality of Treatment Regulations which will result to any company controlling 51% market share declared dominant.
“We are asking for a level playing field and that some conditions be put to the dominant player so that the small ones can compete fairly,” Business Daily quotes Christian de Faria, Airtel Africa CEO.
The two key things that Airtel want implemented are:
1. Share M-Pesa platform
“The dominant player has a successful mobile money service, and have proven that it works. They should then open it up for other players,” said Adil El Yousseffi, Airtel Kenya CEO, during a press briefing on June 15, 2015.
2. Price Controls
Yousseffi also wants price controls set for the dominant player and
tariff reductions vetted by the regulator before implementation.
He said the company has not made any profit for five years while Safaricom announced a net profit of Sh31.9 billion in twelve months to March, 2015.
Bob Collymore, Safaricom chief executive officer, insists the most
profitable company in Kenya is not doing anything wrong and attributes
the revenue to company’s innovative products.
“Dominance in itself is not a crime. Why people keep assuming that, because you’re dominant, you’re committing a crime, I don’t know,” Collymore told Bloomberg Business.
Safaricom controls 67.4 per cent of Kenya’s telecoms market, followed
by Airtel with 22.6 per cent market share while Orange has 10 per cent.
Image: The Standard