Telkom Kenya beats Zain to Safaricom’s top dealer

In a previous interview with Business Daily Meza, Zain Kenya’s managing director, said the company has been talking to Mobicom and other established dealers for partnerships to help strengthen its distribution network but had sealed no deal by last Friday.

“Our new strategy is to focus on rural areas and dealers are key pillars to the achievement of such a goal,” said Mr Meza, adding: “We have been talking to a number of established dealers including Mobicom as they have the experience and the financial capability to take our products down to the subscribers.”

Bharti, the new owners of Zain, have recently announced plans to spend part of the $150 million they intend to invest in Kenya on shoring up their distribution network and improving Safaricom has 500 dealers compared to Zain’s 85 for 10.4 per cent of the voice market, Telkom Kenya’s 56 for 5.6 per cent and Essar’s Yu with 20 for 5.6 per cent.