Kenyan Members of Parliament (MPs) have snubbed a debate on a bill seeking to compel Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya to split their telecommunications business from the mobile money transfer and lending units, Business Daily reported. The Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill sponsored by legislator Elisha Odhiambo aimed to address concerns that Safaricom has become too big through its dominant market share for voice, mobile data and mobile money. Progression of the matter looks bleak after only two out of 349 legislators showed an interest in debating its.
Only two lawmakers contributed to the debate on the Second Reading of the Bill. This means Odhiambo will have an uphill task convincing MPs to back his intentions to break up telecom firms. MPs will vote to either approve the Bill to proceed to the Third Reading and final stage or reject it, meaning the proposed law will be lost.
If approved, telecommunication firms with existing businesses must comply within six months of the law coming into force. Mobile phone companies will be required to form separate entities to manage any other business they engage in outside telecommunications services. They will then be licensed to only offer voice, data, and SMS services, while mobile money services will be licensed as banks.
