Airtel, Telkom Abandon Kenya Merger: Reports
Safaricom's management will be in an ebullient mood this week following the news that its two main rivals in the Kenyan mobile market, Airtel and Telkom, have abandoned plans to merge their operations.
The potential merger was mooted earlier this year and would have created a company with about 26% of the country's near 43 million mobile users. (See Is Safaricom's Dominance in Kenya Under Threat?)
But according to multiple local reports, including this one from The Standard, the merger talks have been abandoned.
This not only leaves Safaricom sitting pretty, but casts doubt on the future of both Airtel and Telkom, as without greater scale the potential for profitable growth is questionable.
— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading for Connecting Africa.
Safaricom's management will be in an ebullient mood this week following the news that its two main rivals in the Kenyan mobile market, Airtel and Telkom, have abandoned plans to merge their operations.
The potential merger was mooted earlier this year and would have created a company with about 26% of the country's near 43 million mobile users. (See Is Safaricom's Dominance in Kenya Under Threat?)
But according to multiple local reports, including this one from The Standard, the merger talks have been abandoned.
This not only leaves Safaricom sitting pretty, but casts doubt on the future of both Airtel and Telkom, as without greater scale the potential for profitable growth is questionable.
— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading for Connecting Africa.