Even the former loss making Telkom Kenya is not being left behind. After a ksh.26 billion buyout by France Telcom, the former government parastatal has gone forth to sign a Ksh.8.9 billion deal with Ericsson to roll out their intended GSM network as from September this year. Econet is planning to roll out its long awaited network in July
The stage for a bruising battle for control of the local mobile phone market is now set and the main target is the safaricom’s near monopoly 9.2 million subscribers (although some of them are absentee subscribers). Other battle frontiers are the cash transfer business, internet service provision and even the intra network call charges.
To add petrol to the fire the government is seeking to trim down the current 26% airtime tax to less than 10% in the 2008/09 Budget. This will see the mobile phone charges dropping to as low as Ksh.2 per minute.
Life can’t get sweeter than this, can it?
