Telkom Kenya: Government Reacquires Telco at KSh 6b After Nearly 20 Years of Privatisation

• The government of Kenya bought a 60% stake from a UK firm Helios Investment Partners, to fully acquire Telkom Kenya
• The National Treasury spent KSh 6.09 billion to purchase the stakes and nationalise the telecommunication firm
• Telkom Kenya became one of the state-owned firms that were privatised and reacquired by the government

Telkom Kenya has been reacquired by the government since it was privatised in 2007.

The National Treasury bought 60% stakes from a UK firm Helios Investment Partners, at KSh 6.09 billion.

Telkom Kenya privatisation

The government fully owned the telco in a rear deal that returned a privatised firm in nearly 20 years.

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According to Business Daily, the treasury made the purchase without parliament’s approval early in September 2022 towards the inauguration of President William Ruto.

Telkom Kenya is currently valued at KSh 10 billion following the purchase and is yet to be listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE).

The move came following an exit notice by Helios, giving the government pre-emptive rights to buy its shares.

“The government bought the shares to protect the firm from investors with different intend, after Helios threatened to exit the partnership,” an official from the treasury noted.

Telkom Kenya subscribers

The telco has been facing a loss of customers following a network outage that picked pace in January 2022.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) showed that the mobile service provider subscribers dropped from 4.23 million in 2019 to 3.42 million as of June 2022.

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Mobile data business

The firm is trying to revive its presence in the market with investments in the mobile data business.

In related news, TUKO.co.ke reported that Telkom Kenya launched KSh 1,500 monthly mobile data package that enables subscribers to share the internet.

The 100 Gigabytes of mobile data is open to prepaid customers and aims to rave up the telecommunication’s firm revenue.

The change bundle package offers 200 on-net and 50 off-net minutes, enabling customers to make calls to different networks.

“There is no other product in the market that can enable you to acquire and access such large amounts of Mobile Data at a very competitive rate, that you can then proceed to share with others,” said Eric Achola, marketing manager.

Source: TUKO.co.ke