NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore is facing hard options, following last Friday’s approval of his company’s quest to acquire rival yuMobile’s assets under tough conditions.

Mr Collymore has to carefully weigh the possible impact of some of the set conditions on Safaricom’s business against any advantages the firm may derive from taking over yuMobile’s assets.

Telecoms sector regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) on Friday set 13 conditions that Safaricom, Airtel and Essar’s yuMobile must meet to complete the planned takeover of assets – key among them the opening up Safaricom’s M-Pesa agency network to rival operators.