MOBILE telephony company, Econet Wireless, will spend US$500 million (£250 million) to roll out operations in East Africa for the next two years and will introduce a “low-cost model” in the country.
Econet’s chief executive for East Africa Michael Foley said the company is ready to roll out by November. Foley says the company has a budget for 1,400 base stations across the country but will first build 200 sites within Nairobi.
Foley said Kenyans should expect better services as the mobile service provider is ready to enter the mobile telephony market.
The roll-out would be financed through equity and debt under a special arrangement where financiers match the company’s contribution to the business which has been allocated three million subscriber lines (Mobile Subscriber Identification Number) by the regulator, Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK).
“Econet will never hit the market. We are going to use a global brand name,” said Mr Foley. “Competition will be good for consumers.”
He said pricing would be an important element in their strategy.
Foley said discussions on infrastructure sharing are on-going and a solid agreement between Econet and other market players is expected. Econet marketing director Anna Othoro said Kenyans should expect good services from the new provider.
“Econet is coming with a new brand for Kenyans.”
Econet is setting up a Business Process Outsourcing Centre to handle its call centre facilities.
Foley said although the roll out date was delayed by post-election violence, the company was now ready to start operations.
Econet Kenya is 70 percent owned by Johannesburg-based Econet Wireless International, which has telecommunication operations in nine countries in Africa, Europe and the East Asia Pacific Rim, Essar Communications Holdings Ltd., a unit of Mumbai, India-based Essar Group, owns 49 percent of Econet Wireless International.
The company is “led by its founder, internationally acclaimed telecommunications entrepreneur and philanthropist, Strive Masiyiwa,” according to Econet’s Web site
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