Airtel-Telkom merger approved by CA, combined entity to retain at least 349 employees - Capital Business
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Airtel-Telkom merger approved by CA, combined entity to retain at least 349 employees

Telkom is required to absorb 114 employees for a period of two years from the date of the merger with the remaining 115 set to be absorbed by, “network partners of the merged entity.”

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 13 – The Competition Authority (CA) has authorized the proposed merger of Airtel and Telkom with the requirement that the combined entity retains at least 349 of the 674 employees currently working for both entities.

The approval was published in the Kenya Gazette released on Friday by CA Director General Wang’ombe Kariuki.

Of the 349 employees to be retained, 120 must be engaged by the combined entity for a two-year period from the merger date.

Telkom is required to absorb 114 employees for a period of two years from the date of the merger with the remaining 115 set to be absorbed by, “network partners of the merged entity.”

Airtel and Telkom controlled 21.4 and 8.9 per cent of the telecommunication industry market share, Safaricom retaining its dominance at 65.4 per cent according to CA data published in October 2018.

The two mobile network operators posted a customer subscriber base of 9.7 million and 3.8 million compared to Safaricom’s 29.7 per cent.

The merged telco will revert to CA two spectrum – 900MHZ and 1800MHZ – apon the expiry of the term of the joint operating license.

CA also restricted the merged entity, or part of it, “from entering into any form of sale agreement within the next five years.”

The merged telco will have access to 4,204 kilometers of fibre managed by Telkom on the government’s behalf under the terms the infrastructure has been leased to Telkom.

Airtel-Telkom will be required to file a detailed compliance report annually to CA to verify conformity to merger terns set out by the regulator.

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