Safaricom may lose MPESA services

The Kenyan Government is introducing a new communication regulation this week in Parliament that could lead to the break-up of Safaricom, the country’s leading Telecom Company.

According to, the Cabinet Secretary at the Ministry of Information Fred Matiang’i, the regulation will protect Safaricom customers against monopoly and ensure they are not  strangled

Safaricom, partly owned by the British Mobile Firm Vodafone, currently has more than 60% of Kenya’s 33 million mobile users.

If the new regulations are approved by the National Assembly, Safaricom could be forced to separate its mobile money unit (M-Pesa) from its mobile phone services (voice and data) and infrastructure businesses, potentially weakening its position in the market.

This will mean victory for Airtel, which has long argued that safaricom’s dominance is anti-competitive.

By Bernice Sila