[kictanet] GoK-Telkom-France Telecom agreement

[Andrea Bohnstedt]

Dear all,

I have been quite intrigued by the negotiations between GoK and France
Telecom over their Telkom acquisition that were covered nicely consistently
by the East African in recent weeks.

The latest instalment here:
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How%20the%20French%20got%20their%20way%20in%20battle%20for%20Telkom%20Kenya/-/2558/942312/-/gktealz/-/index.html

The article states that GoK and France Telecom have come to an agreements
under which

   - GoK will pay the USD10m fee for the 3G license for Telkom - in that
   context, I'd be curious to know if CCk will refund USD15m to Safaricom as,
   from what I understand, they had initially promised to do if the license fee
   will be lowered from its initial USD25m?
   - GoK will clear overdue bills to Telkom, contributions to the pension
   fund, overdue payment to KBC: no issue with these since it appears fair
   enough that GoK clears liabilities that precede the privatisation (never
   mind the question why GoK/parastatals have been let to accumulate such
   obligations in the first place).
   - Telkom to manage and control GoK's 20% stake in TEAMS.


   - France Telecom to be granted an exclusive operational and maintenance
   contract for the government-owned, multimillion-dollar nationwide optic
   fibre network. Since we had all these elaborate discussions recently in the
   context of the new tariff regulations regarding competition and level
   playing field, I wonder how this helps to create a level playing field?

I haven't read much from GoK/CCK/Min of Information on this so far, so first
of all, I'd be curious to know how much of the East African coverage is
accurate, and if not, what the facts are - if the PS Information is reading
along?

And then I'd be interested to hear opinions on how this will affect the
competitive landscape. Anyone thoughts?

Have a good day and keep warm :)

Andrea
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