OMOTAYO ARAOYE
Airtel Africa Plc, on Wednesay, announced a retraction of merging its business with Telkom Kenya Limited as they both decided not to pursue further completion of the deal.
InsideBusiness gathered that the two telecom operated face a huge challenge of securing the required regulatory approvals for the transaction.
The Airtel Africa Group’s Secretary, Simon O’Hara, in a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), said the merger transaction has gone through a very lengthy process which has led the parties to reconsider their stance.
Airtel Africa Plc had earlier reported in February 2019 that its Airtel Networks Kenya Limited and Telkom Kenya Limited amongst other parties, had entered into an agreement to combine their businesses in Kenya, so as to create an integrated telecommunications platform with mobile, enterprise, and wholesale divisions.
Airtel Africa CEO and MD, Raghunath Mandava, said, “Kenya is a large and growing market and we remain committed to build a growing profitable business.
“We currently serve more than 14 million Kenyan customers, a number that is growing month on month, and in the last quarter our revenue numbers were up double-digit in constant currency in Kenya.
“Our strategy to focus on winning more customers, invest in a best in class voice and data network and progressively expand our mobile money business, will continue to build on these results in order to deliver against the opportunities the Kenyan market has to offer.”
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.
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