This will be after the authority completes a study which will give guidance on how to determine a dominant player and actions to be taken when a telco abuses the dominance/CFM
This will be after the authority completes a study which will give guidance on how to determine a dominant player and actions to be taken when a telco abuses the dominance.
“We will soon be starting a study and we are at the moment looking how to get consultants to assist in the study. This will help us in knowing the dominant firm and ensure no one abuses the regulations,” Wangusi said during a media briefing on Thursday.
He says it is too early to determine whether Safaricom is the dominant player or not in the sector, arguing out that it might not been powerful in all market segments.
He urged Kenyans to wait until the new dominance regulations come into place.
“Being dominant is not a sin or a bad thing… all we want is fairness in the market. It is too early to start saying that Safaricom or any other player is dominant. I know you may want to use our quarterly statistics to try and assume they are, but it would be too early for that. Let’s not think that this is happening tomorrow,” Wangusi said.
Safaricom has a subscriber market share of 67.4 percent, mobile money transfer service of 77.4 percent, voice traffic 84 percent, SMS 96.4 percent, and mobile data subscription share at 70.7 percent.
Buying from other similar studies done by the authority, CA estimates the study may cost “either slightly above or lower than Sh30million.”
Safaricom has however continued to oppose the new Tariffs Regulations and Fair Competition rules pointing out that it will result in the erosion of the gains made in the Kenya ICT sector.
READ: Proposed competition regulations unfair – Collymore
Under the new regulations, the criterion for determining a licensee as dominant has been lowered to over 50 percent which has effectively placed Safaricom as dominant in most key product categories, subjecting the firm to specific rules.
CA says it has already handed the regulations to the ICT Ministry, a document which have also reached the Attorney General office with the authority’s chairman Ngene Gituku refuting claims that the AG rejected the draft regulations.
“The authority is in receipt of a copy of the letter from the Ministry of ICT confirming the transmission of the regulations to the Attorney General’s office,” Gituku said.
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