Companies

Communication chiefs to debate competition study

wangusi

Competition Communications Authority director-general Francis Wangusi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Telecommunications sector stakeholders are Tuesday set to debate a controversial report on the competitiveness of the industry at an open forum in Nairobi.

The report, commissioned by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) and carried out by consultancy firm Analysys Mason, is intended to provide remedies for a market reality in which Safaricom #ticker:SCOM is by far the leading player while other competitors are stuck in loss making.

The CA had initially set July 2017 as the deadline for finalising and beginning the implementation of the study.

However, there have been repeated delays in this time plan, leading some in the sector to cry foul play.

On Wednesday, the public will be invited to submit its views on a draft of the study before it is finalised.

“The consultants have undertaken the study and submitted draft findings to the Authority. In line with the provisions of the Constitution, the Authority is required to subject the findings through a public consultation process,” said the CA in a notice.

READ: Telco market debate could see Safaricom split into two

A draft of the report, leaked in February last year, had initially proposed the hiving off of M-Pesa from Safaricom as one of the solutions to market distortion. This proposal has been scrapped in a later version of the study.

Analysys Mason recommended national roaming, tower sharing, and mandatory mobile money interoperability.

Airtel and Safaricom are already trailing mobile money interoperability, with the goal of launching such services to the market his year.