Safaricom Limited Reiterates Concerns on New Regulations

Nairobi 7th May 2010
Press Release: Safaricom Limited Reiterates Concerns On New Regulations 

…….Leading telecommunications service provider, Safaricom Limited today moved to reiterate its concerns on the publication of the new regulations by the Ministry Of Information and Communication.
 
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph emphasised the fact that Safaricom was not opposed to the introduction of the new regulations, he pointed out that Safaricom's concerns were specifically in relation to two of the published regulations; the Equality Of Treatment & Fair Competition Regulations and The Tariff Regulations which contain provisions that were in his view directly targeted at curtailing Safaricom's growth.
 
He went on to state that these two regulations were aimed at punishing a dominant operator irrespective of whether or not that dominant operator had acted in an anti- competitive manner and in abuse of its dominant position. "It is not a crime for us to be dominant, we recognize that we are the market leader and it is not something we should be ashamed of, or something that we should be punished for, the question that needs to be asked is how we got where we are today and whether we did so unfairly. The answer to that question is that Safaricom's market leadership is a factor of its significant investment in innovation and its ability to meet the growing needs of its customer base" Joseph stated.
 
Joseph pointed out that these regulations would force Safaricom to apply to the CCK for approval to review its retail tariffs, a process that would take a minimum of 90 days from the date of application. "The fact that it will take up to 3 months for the CCK to approve a tariff reduction will negatively affect our ability to respond to and meet the demands of our customers.  Sadly the biggest losers will be our over 15 million customers who have to wait up to 3 months to enjoy improved tariff offerings".
 
When making additional comments on the issue, Safaricom's Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Nzioka Waita stated that "We believe that this issue can be sorted out and we are talking to the Government with a view to finding a mutually acceptable position. From where we stand, this matter can be resolved if the two regulations are amended to provide for processes that in the first instance will define the scope for establishing whether an operator is dominant in a particular market segment and whether it has in fact abused its dominant position to the detriment of both the consumer and its competitors, and secondly where such an abuse of dominance has been identified, spelling out the proportionate remedies that the CCK can apply to correct the identified offence."

Nairobi 7th May 2010
Press Release: Safaricom Limited Reiterates Concerns On New Regulations 

…….Leading telecommunications service provider, Safaricom Limited today moved to reiterate its concerns on the publication of the new regulations by the Ministry Of Information and Communication.
 
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph emphasised the fact that Safaricom was not opposed to the introduction of the new regulations, he pointed out that Safaricom's concerns were specifically in relation to two of the published regulations; the Equality Of Treatment & Fair Competition Regulations and The Tariff Regulations which contain provisions that were in his view directly targeted at curtailing Safaricom's growth.
 
He went on to state that these two regulations were aimed at punishing a dominant operator irrespective of whether or not that dominant operator had acted in an anti- competitive manner and in abuse of its dominant position. "It is not a crime for us to be dominant, we recognize that we are the market leader and it is not something we should be ashamed of, or something that we should be punished for, the question that needs to be asked is how we got where we are today and whether we did so unfairly. The answer to that question is that Safaricom's market leadership is a factor of its significant investment in innovation and its ability to meet the growing needs of its customer base" Joseph stated.
 
Joseph pointed out that these regulations would force Safaricom to apply to the CCK for approval to review its retail tariffs, a process that would take a minimum of 90 days from the date of application. "The fact that it will take up to 3 months for the CCK to approve a tariff reduction will negatively affect our ability to respond to and meet the demands of our customers.  Sadly the biggest losers will be our over 15 million customers who have to wait up to 3 months to enjoy improved tariff offerings".
 
When making additional comments on the issue, Safaricom's Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Nzioka Waita stated that "We believe that this issue can be sorted out and we are talking to the Government with a view to finding a mutually acceptable position. From where we stand, this matter can be resolved if the two regulations are amended to provide for processes that in the first instance will define the scope for establishing whether an operator is dominant in a particular market segment and whether it has in fact abused its dominant position to the detriment of both the consumer and its competitors, and secondly where such an abuse of dominance has been identified, spelling out the proportionate remedies that the CCK can apply to correct the identified offence."