Kenya
The Competition Tribunal of Kenya handed down its first decision
in May 2020 in a matter that entailed the review of various
conditions imposed by the Competition Authority of Kenya
("CAK") in its approval of the merger
between Airtel Networks Kenya Limited
("Airtel") and Telkom Kenya Limited
("Telkom").
The CAK had imposed a total of eight conditions when it approved
the merger in 2019. The merging parties contended that the
conditions did not address any substantive competition issues, but
significantly affected the merged entity's rights and would
weaken the merged entity's ability to compete with the dominant
telecommunications provider in Kenya.
The Competition Tribunal of Kenya set aside certain conditions,
while upholding others. The conditions relating to a restriction of
the transfer of the merging parties' spectrum licences were set
aside on the basis that these encroached on the authority of the
Communications Authority of Kenya. The Tribunal
