Safaricom Now Stops Customers from Porting to Airtel, Says Rene Meza

The fight throught the media, CCK and social media between Safaricom and Airtel Kenya is getting dirty. The issues here might be real or not real but as long as we dont get a chance to be in the technical know, we might never get to know the real truth. The fight has gotten dirty now that Kenyans have been given the freedom to move from one network to another without loosing their original number including the prefix.

The mobile network honchos have been sending all media houses full communciations between the CCK, Airtel and Safaricom. But the issues seems not to be close to being resolved. Today, Airtel has listed issues it is having with Safaricom over the MNP. All press releases to media houses now funnily calls Safaricom, “Vodafone Owned”.

Airtel says that Safaricom has slowed down the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) implementation by erecting numerous sabotaging of over 6,500 dissatisfied customers who with to migrate migrate from their network. In a letter addressed to Communications Commission of Kenya, CCK, Director General Mr. Charles Njoroge, the company says Safaricom is now stopping to deliver messages sent by clients wishing to port to Airtel to 1501.

Mr. Meza wants Safaricom punished for the “underhand tactics” saying that failure to do that will make customers not experience the anticipated freedom. “We initially thought that this was due to a simple and isolated case affecting a few customers, following which we launched an investigation and went to the extent of buying Safaricom SIM cards which we have taken through the process over the last 48 hrs with no success with a similar result,” he said.

Rene calls the continued violation of agreed process by Safaricom “retrogressive, anti-competitive and against the law”. He says that the client is not properly informed and failure to fully port to Airtel is blamed on Airtel’s “ineffectiveness”. Customers wishing to change operators are required to fill in a porting request form, send an sms to 1501, to initiate the process then pay a one -off fee of Ksh 200, a fee that airtel has waived for customers choosing to join its network.