Safaricom has requested that the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) deny licenses to foreign service providers.
In a letter addressed to CA Director General and CEO David Mugonyi on July 5, 2024, Safaricom argued that licensing foreign companies could pose risks and cause harm to the country.
“Safaricom kindly requests the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) to carefully assess the risk of granting independent licenses to satellite service providers and the consequent harm it may cause to Kenya,” the letter states.
Safaricom suggests that instead of issuing independent licenses to foreign satellite service providers, the CA should require these companies to operate under agreements with existing local license holders.
According to Safaricom, this would allow satellite service providers to function as infrastructure providers rather than being granted direct or independent licenses.
“Satellite service providers should therefore not be granted a license directly or independently but rather only permitted under the license rights of the local licensee,” the company added in its letter.