NAIROBI, Friday
CCK to allow direct international calls
Kenya’s telecoms regulator said yesterday it plans to allow the country’s two mobile phone operators to make direct international calls, which the firms said would improve quality and lower costs.
Currently, all international calls made by Kenya’s six million mobile phone subscribers have to be connected through state-owned Telkom Kenya, although few users realise it.
But Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) director general, John Waweru, said the regulator had placed a notice in the official government publication paving the way for Safaricom and Celtel subscribers to make direct calls abroad.
Both Safaricom, which is 40 per cent owned by Britain’s Vodafone and 60 per cent state-owned, and Celtel, which is part of Celtel International owned by Kuwait’s MTC, welcomed the news.
"The licence will mean we can offer substantially reduced international call charges to our subscribers," said Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph.
"We will offer a discount on existing tariffs and a much higher quality to the current situation."
Safaricom leads the burgeoning Kenyan mobile market with four million subscribers.
"What is important it that they will allow us to offer our customers world-class quality," said Gerhard May, CEO of Celtel, which has more than two million subscribers.
Waweru told reporters the International Voice Gateway licences were expected to be issued by July 1.
They will allow the companies to route all international calls through their own gateways.
The firms have to wait until July before the licence is issued to allow the CCK to receive comments or objections from members of the public, Safaricom’s Joseph said.
"We expect that if all goes well we will get our International Voice Gateway licences by July 1st," Joseph said.
The government has said it plans to sell 60 per cent of its shareholding in Telkom Kenya.
It also plans to sell nine per cent of its share in Safaricom to Vodafone to finance the restructuring of Telkom.
The Government has rejected a $100 million offer by Vodafone for an additional 11 per cent in Safaricom.
It says it is willing to sell 9 percent to the British company but for more than $100 million.
CCK this week commissioned a Sh72 million (US$1 million) telecommunications network cost study to recommend the best interconnection tariffs in the market.
CCK director-general, John Waweru, said the study, to be undertaken by the UK based firm — Analysys Consulting — will be completed in October this year.
Since the industry was liberalised, the sector has been using negotiated interconnection rates, which Waweru said, "seem to have largely impeded inter-network traffic exchange."
Despite significant growth in the sector that has seen mobile subscription nearing six million and fixed line services poised for growth with the privatisation of Telkom Kenya, only 20 per cent of the Kenyan population is connected.
CCK is in the process of migrating to a unified licensing regime in these growing and competitive sector.
Results of the study will enable the Commission to regulate and monitor interconnection rates through a cost structure that determine retail and wholesale pricing. — Reuters
CCK to allow direct international calls
Kenya’s telecoms regulator said yesterday it plans to allow the country’s two mobile phone operators to make direct international calls, which the firms said would improve quality and lower costs.
Currently, all international calls made by Kenya’s six million mobile phone subscribers have to be connected through state-owned Telkom Kenya, although few users realise it.
But Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) director general, John Waweru, said the regulator had placed a notice in the official government publication paving the way for Safaricom and Celtel subscribers to make direct calls abroad.
Both Safaricom, which is 40 per cent owned by Britain’s Vodafone and 60 per cent state-owned, and Celtel, which is part of Celtel International owned by Kuwait’s MTC, welcomed the news.
"The licence will mean we can offer substantially reduced international call charges to our subscribers," said Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph.
"We will offer a discount on existing tariffs and a much higher quality to the current situation."
Safaricom leads the burgeoning Kenyan mobile market with four million subscribers.
"What is important it that they will allow us to offer our customers world-class quality," said Gerhard May, CEO of Celtel, which has more than two million subscribers.
Waweru told reporters the International Voice Gateway licences were expected to be issued by July 1.
They will allow the companies to route all international calls through their own gateways.
The firms have to wait until July before the licence is issued to allow the CCK to receive comments or objections from members of the public, Safaricom’s Joseph said.
"We expect that if all goes well we will get our International Voice Gateway licences by July 1st," Joseph said.
The government has said it plans to sell 60 per cent of its shareholding in Telkom Kenya.
It also plans to sell nine per cent of its share in Safaricom to Vodafone to finance the restructuring of Telkom.
The Government has rejected a $100 million offer by Vodafone for an additional 11 per cent in Safaricom.
It says it is willing to sell 9 percent to the British company but for more than $100 million.
CCK this week commissioned a Sh72 million (US$1 million) telecommunications network cost study to recommend the best interconnection tariffs in the market.
CCK director-general, John Waweru, said the study, to be undertaken by the UK based firm — Analysys Consulting — will be completed in October this year.
Since the industry was liberalised, the sector has been using negotiated interconnection rates, which Waweru said, "seem to have largely impeded inter-network traffic exchange."
Despite significant growth in the sector that has seen mobile subscription nearing six million and fixed line services poised for growth with the privatisation of Telkom Kenya, only 20 per cent of the Kenyan population is connected.
CCK is in the process of migrating to a unified licensing regime in these growing and competitive sector.
Results of the study will enable the Commission to regulate and monitor interconnection rates through a cost structure that determine retail and wholesale pricing. — Reuters
