Companies

iWayAfrica takes over CallKey’s 200 customers

iway

iWayAfrica MD Kenneth Munyi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

South African-owned Internet service provider iWayAfrica Kenya is set to take over 200 corporate communication customers of CallKey Networks after buying out a unit of the company.

iWayAfrica last week completed the acquisition of the terrestrial and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) arm of Callkey Networks, a Nairobi-based corporate communications service provider, for undisclosed value.

The deal, which was approved by the Competition Authority of Kenya on August 2, entrenches iWayAfrica’s terrestrial and satellite communication services business.

“It (acquisition) gives us more revenue and more customers. The businesses have operated in the same space, so their offerings are pretty much aligned and I wouldn’t say there is any new acquisition of new technology,” managing director Kenneth Munyi said in an interview.

Internet penetration in the country rose by 10.2 percentage points year-on-year to 65.8 per cent, or 29.4 million subscriptions, Communications Authority of Kenya says in its latest report. 

Mobile data accounted for 99 per cent of the subscriptions, the regulator said, citing continued fall in cost of smartphones and their widespread availability, limiting the space for players on other platforms.

“Our new strategy is to look at internet as a platform on which other value-added services operate,” Mr Munyi said.