---
title: Airtel accuses Kenyan regulator of favouring its rival - Developing Telecoms
description: Airtel Networks Kenya has taken aim at regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK), alleging bias in favour of Airtel’s rival Safaricom.
canonical_url: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/12213-airtel-accuses-kenyan-regulator-of-favouring-its-rival.html
language: en-GB
date: 2021-11-01T16:47:20Z
notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/12213-airtel-accuses-kenyan-regulator-of-favouring-its-rival.html. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
markdown-tokens: 1183
---

> **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/telecom-regulation/12213-airtel-accuses-kenyan-regulator-of-favouring-its-rival.html. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content.
> **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers.
> **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above.


Airtel Networks Kenya has taken aim at regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK), alleging bias in favour of Airtel’s rival Safaricom.

In a petition to Kenya’s parliament, Airtel has accused the CAK of ignoring market dominance by Safaricom.

By the end of June Safaricom apparently claimed 64 per cent of the local market, more than double Airtel’s 27 per cent share. Telkom Kenya has seven percent of the market. The gap could have been smaller by now but, as readers will be aware,[ Airtel abandoned a planned merger with Telkom Kenya last year](https://developingtelecoms.com/telecom-business/9865-telkom-kenya-and-airtel-networks-kenya-call-off-merger.html), citing unacceptable conditions and delays in receiving regulatory approvals.

Part of Airtel’s argument is that declaring one or more players dominant has already happened in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

It appears that in Burkina Faso Airtel and Telmob were declared dominant, while Congo Brazzaville declared MTN and Airtel dominant. In Nigeria MTN was declared dominant. In all these cases the market share of the dominant players was just under 40 percent, except for Nigeria where the share was 44 percent.

Airtel points out that Safaricom has a larger share of the Kenyan market and that declaring Safaricom dominant would be the first step towards ensuring market competitiveness.

It also insists that there has been bias in the allocation of spectrum, with Safaricom holding much more than its rivals, and wants a review (presumably downwards) of the mobile termination rate (MTR) which has apparently remained at Sh0.99 (just under one US cent) for the past six years.

How serious a declaration of dominance would be is a moot point as the CAK has, to date, shown little interest in accusing Safaricom of unfair competitive practices.

<!-- AI:SCHEMA: Schema.org description of canonical page in JSON-LD format -->
<!-- AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN format=jsonld scope=page -->

```json
{
    "@context": "http:\/\/schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Article",
            "author": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#vaughan_o_grady_640e701a34"
            },
            "dateModified": "2021-11-01T16:47:20Z",
            "datePublished": "2021-11-01T16:47:20Z",
            "description": "Airtel Networks Kenya has taken aim at regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK), alleging bias in favour of Airtel’s rival Safaricom.",
            "headline": "Airtel accuses Kenyan regulator of favouring its rival",
            "image": [
                {
                    "@type": "ImageObject",
                    "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/Places\/Nairobi_Kenyatta_International_Conference_Centre600.jpg",
                    "caption": "",
                    "description": "Airtel accuses Kenyan regulator of favouring its rival",
                    "width": 600,
                    "height": 450
                }
            ],
            "inLanguage": "en-GB",
            "mainEntityOfPage": {
                "@type": "WebPage",
                "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/telecom-business\/telecom-regulation\/12213-airtel-accuses-kenyan-regulator-of-favouring-its-rival.html"
            },
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultPublisher"
            },
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/telecom-business\/telecom-regulation\/12213-airtel-accuses-kenyan-regulator-of-favouring-its-rival.html"
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "name": "Vaughan O'Grady",
            "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#vaughan_o_grady_640e701a34"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultPublisher",
            "@type": "Organization",
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/",
            "logo": {
                "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultLogo"
            },
            "name": "Developing Telecoms"
        },
        {
            "@id": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/#defaultLogo",
            "@type": "ImageObject",
            "url": "https:\/\/developingtelecoms.com\/images\/stories\/highResLogos\/dt-site-logo-440.png",
            "width": "440",
            "height": "122"
        }
    ]
}
```

<!-- AI:SCHEMA:END -->