Airtel Risks Forced Sale in Expired License Row

The government has ordered Airtel Kenya to pay Sh2.15 billion for its expired license in order to be exempted from a rule that requires telco operators to sell 30 percent stake to local investors within the next three years.

The mandatory share sale is implemented to ensure that Airtel is in full compliance with ownership regulations that require telecoms companies to maintain at least 30 per cent local shareholding. This is to encourage local ownership of ICT firms.

ICT Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru, has said Airtel is required to renew its license that expired in February 2015 before asking the government for a waiver of the local ownership rule

“If they are operating without a license, how do we even grant them an exemption? We are still in court with them. I cannot give permission if they have not paid the license fee,” said Mr. Mucheru.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) is locked in a court stalemate with Airtel over the renewal of its operating license and insists that Airtel Kenya is required to pay the permit fee of Sh2.15 billion in order to stay in business. Airtel however, is operating on a license acquired along with Essar’s (Yu Mobile) assets in a deal concluded in 2014 and argues that the CA had agreed to merge its operating licenses with the ones it purchased from Yu Mobile, which expires in 2025. The CA however maintains that the Yu Mobile license that Airtel is currently operating under was not automatically transferable.

By Fatiha Shabir