Telecoms news from Kenya

GSMA Opens Kenyan Office to Tap into African Telecoms Market

The trade association, the GSMA has opened a permanent office in Nairobi, Kenya. The office will be based in the heart of Nairobi's Innovation Hub (iHub) for the technology community ...more.

Safaricom Invests in Backup Batteries for Base Stations

Kenya's Safaricom has spent Sh96 million on more backup batteries for its base stations to try and address network outages caused by unreliable mains electricity supply. ...more.

Kenyan Mobile Money Deposits Now Greater than the Country's Largest Bank

Kenya's mobile networks are now collectively the largest bank in the country, thanks to the mobile money deposits they hold on behalf of their subscribers. ...more.

Airtel Kenya Looking at Local Stock Market Listing

Bharti Airtel is looking to list a 15% stake of its Kenyan subsidiary on the local stock market in order to bring the company in line with local limits on foreign shareholders. ...more.

Safaricom Denies Role in Kenyan Election Results Delay

Kenya's Safaricom has denied that its systems were the cause of delays to the General Election results being transmitted from rural voting stations to the capital city. ...more.

Bharti Airtel Launches HD-Voice in Kenya

Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of the mobile HD voice service for its subscribers in Kenya. ...more.

Huawei Drops Kenyan Corruption Lawsuit

Huawei has cancelled a lawsuit it was filing in Kenya claiming corruption by rival Chinese vendor, ZTE in a local contract. ...more.

Nokia Launches Mobile Content Service in Kenya

Nokia today announced that its Nokia Life mobile content service will launch in Kenya, one of Africa's largest economies, through a deal with Safaricom and Airtel. ...more.

Safaricom to Offer Unsecured Loans to Mobile Money Agents

Kenya's Safaricom is to offer its mobile banking agents an unsecured loan facility to help them expand their mobile money services. ...more.

Kenya to Revamp Mobile Money Transaction Tax

Kenya's government is looking to revamp its recently introduced 10% tax on mobile money transfer fees so that companies offering the service for free would also pay the tax. ...more.

Kenya's Yu Secures $150 Million in Funding from Parent Shareholder

Kenya's Essar Telecom (which trades as Yu) has secured a capital injection of US$150 million from its Indian parent company to help pay bank loans. ...more.

Microsoft Testing Solar-Powered Broadband Access in Kenya

Microsoft, in collaboration with the Kenyan government and Indigo Telecom announced the launch of a pilot project delivering low-cost wireless broadband access to previously unserved locations near Nanyuki and Kalema, Kenya. ...more.

Safaricom Hikes Cost of Money Transfers Following Tax Changes

Kenya's Safaricom has raised the cost of sending money through its mobile money service, M-PESA following changes in government taxes. ...more.

Safaricom Cuts Off 2.5 Million Unregistered SIM Cards

Kenya's Safaricom says that it has now disconnected 2.5 SIM cards from its network since the government ordered the mobile networks to only permit the use of registered SIM cards. ...more.

Kenya's Essar Telecom May Skip 3G and go Straight to LTE

Kenya's Essar Telecom -- which trades as Yu -- says that it will skip 3G services and jump directly to building an LTE network. ...more.

Samsung to Graduate First 200 Trainees in Kenyan Academy

The first 200 trainees are set to graduate from Samsung's Kenyan Engineering Academy in the coming weeks. ...more.

Kenya Cuts Off 1.3 Million Unregistered SIM Cards

Just under 1.3 million SIM cards were cut off in Kenya as the New Year started as the deadline for registering the users details with the mobile networks expired. ...more.

Kenya Blocks All Unregistered SIM Cards

Kenya's mobile networks have started blocking unregistered SIM cards after the telecoms regulator, the CCK refused to offer any further extensions to the registration deadline. ...more.

Safaricom Accused to Stealing Idea for its Micro-Loans Service

Kenya's Safaricom is facing allegations that its new interest paying accounts and micro-loans service is based on an idea developed by the local micro-finance institution, Faulu Kenya. ...more.

Kenya to Resume Reductions in Mobile Termination Rates

Kenya's telecoms regulator, the CCk has announced its decision to continue implementing the five-year glide path for fixed and mobile termination rates issued in 2010. ...more.