Saturday, January 9, 2010

Kenya To Issue 3G Licences At US$25 million

Kenya's telecoms regulator, the CCK has confirmed that it will hold the fee for 3G licenses at Sh1.9 billion (US$25 million) - despite calls from the mobile networks for the fee to be lowered.

"Please note that the determined 3G license fee is $25 million for any operator who seeks that license," the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said in an email to Reuters. "It is applicable equally across the board."

Although Safaricom aquired a license in 2007 for the full fee of US$25 million, the other operators have claimed that the fee is too high for the market and been calling for a reduction. Safaricom has said that it would seek a refund on the difference if new operators are offered licenses at a lower rate.

Zain has applied for a license, and is planning a network launch in the first half of this year.

 Safaricom had 13.8 million subscribers at the end of June, compared to 2.4 million for Zain.

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