The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has suspended the proposed merger between Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya.
This was made known by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) following investigations on how the merger deal was struck.
Christopher Wambua, the CA director in charge of communications and public affairs, informed the two telcos that no action would be taken on the merger just yet. He noted that due to government shareholding in Telkom Kenya, approval will only be granted once all the conditions set out by the Authority are fulfilled and investigation concluded by the EACC.
The two mobile operators, which are the second and third largest in the country, earlier this year announced a deal to operate under a joint venture to rival market leader, Safaricom.
The merger between the two companies was set for completion by the end of 2019 and expected to have a combined share of 33.3% against 64.2% market share of Safaricom. This recent development, however, halts the whole process.
