Competition Tribunal Eases Merger Conditions For Telkom Kenya And Airtel

For the first time in Kenya, the Competition Tribunal has made a ruling which reversed or amended merger conditions that had been imposed by the Competition Authority of Kenya as part of its approval to a transaction, in an application filed by Anjarwalla and Khanna (A&K) on behalf of Telkom Kenya and Airtel.

In October 2019, the Authority conditionally approved a merger application submitted by Telkom and Airtel, imposing various conditions, including a requirement for the spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz acquired by the merged business from Telkom to revert back to the Government of Kenya; a blanket prohibition from selling or transferring any of the parties operating licences and spectrum licenses; and a blanket prohibition for the merged entity from entering into any form of sale agreement within the next five years, which would have had the effect of restricting the merged business from even selling shares to raise further capital or any commercial sale of