The Communication Authority through the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), is next week set to table before parliament a set of regulations that could place Safaricom, in a stiffer operating environment.
The Fair Competition and Equality of Treatment 2015 regulations if passed by parliament will see Safaricom declared a dominant player in the market.
According to a Nation report once declared a dominant player, Safaricom will be required to maintain separate books of account for each of its services such as M-pesa, mobile phone services and the infrastructure.
The regulations will further see mobile phone services handled as a separate and independent unit that runs the retail business of selling voice, SMS and Internet at prices controlled by the Communication Authority (CA) to ensure the prices are equal or slightly higher than those of other companies.
The regulations describe a dominant player as a licensee that can “maintain or erect barriers to entry into the market, including, by means of control of essential facilities, access to superior technology, privileged access to resources or capital markets or superior buying or negotiating position, amongst others”.
The rules also state that a dominant player must have a market share of 50 per cent or more.
According to the CA director-general Francis Wangusi, Safaricom has more than 70% market share.
Dr. Matiang’i has stated that the legislation is not meant to clip the wings of Safaricom but is a genuine concern to make the country’s telecommunication sector more competitive, the Standard reports.
The move to forward the bill to the national assembly has been prompted by numerous concerns from the rival industry players who insist that Safaricom be declared dominant.
