KENYA LICENCES FOUR MOBILE VIRTUAL NETWORK OPERATORS

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Updated : April 20, 2014 12:00  pm,Dubai
By Editor
FRANCIS-WANGUSI-2New licensees will provide cellular mobile services to end users including customer registration, SIM cards issuance, billing and customer care
 
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has licensed three companies – Finserve Africa Limited, Zioncell Kenya Limited and Mobile Pay Limited- to offer Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MNVO) services.
The MVNOs will ride on communications infrastructure networks of existing Mobile Network Operators to provide cellular mobile services to end users including customer registration, SIM cards issuance, billing and customer care.
The MVNOs will however be assigned their own numbering range where they request and provide services as bona fide entities. The three newly licenced operators will be hosted on the Airtel Network.
CCK Director General Francis Wangusi said the entry of new players will spur growth and innovation in the sector. ‘‘MVNOs will have a chance to come up with innovative ways to make them have a competitive advantage over other players in the sector. It is going to be good to the consumer in terms of quality and affordability. As we go forward, we will expect lower call rates and greater innovation and improved services’’ he said.
The MVNO phenomenon is increasingly becoming a common feature across the world with the GSM Association putting the figure at over 800 by 2012.