The three leading telecoms companies in Kenya Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya, are to pay KES 2.9 billion (approx. $28.6 million) each for a 4G spectrum license.
According to Francis Wangusi, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) director-general, in a discussion with a local media entity, Business Daily, the technical committee has approved the issuance of the licence but the management is still waiting for the final go-ahead from the board in early July 2016.
The CA has said it will start issuing next month upon payment of the fees.
Apart from paying the licence fees, the three mobile operators will also be required to share at least 30 per cent of the 4G frequency spectrum with smaller telcos once allocated licences for commercial rollout of the technology. This will avail the smaller operators such as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and tier-two infrastructure providers such as Liquid Telecoms, Jamii and Wananchi Group access to the limited resource at a lower fee.
Last year Safaricom and Airtel were issued with 4G frequency spectrum on a pilot basis while Telkom Kenya’s new shareholders Helios Investment Partners last week said they will be applying for the licence in the coming weeks.
It is expected the allocation of the 4G spectrum frequency will assist the telcos the opportunity to provide high speed broadband for the data market segment and increase the penetration of the growing mobile money payment services.
