Corporate News
Safaricom gets reprieve in review of competition laws
UK consultants recommend repeal or total knock out of key clauses that the market leader opposed when they were introduced in May. Photo/FILE
Posted Monday, August 16 2010 at 00:00
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The consultants say that in many jurisdictions where the mobile market is competitive, operators offer handset subsidies to attract new customers and support the subsidy with profits made from other mobile services.
“The regulation should not, therefore, prevent operators from engaging in any cross-subsidies but refer to anti-competitive cross-subsidies only.”
The government hired the consultants in June to look into the regulations after Safaricom mounted pressure on the government to have them reviewed, saying they risked reversing the gains the company has made over the years.
The regulations were, however, positively received by Safaricom’s rivals Zain Kenya, Telkom Kenya and Essar, who saw them as levelling the playing field and enhancing competition.
All the five regulations, including the two contentious ones are currently in force and the move by the government to amend them means that the Ministry of Information will have forward to changes to the State Law office to be gazetted.
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