The Communications Commission of Kenya's slow process at approving yuMobile’s buyout plan by Safaricom and Airtel is causing a lot of fear among the operators and yuMobile’s staff.

It has emerged that the regulator is yet to approve the deal three weeks after it was informed of the acquisition plan.

Safaricom yesterday said that the longer the regulator took at approving the deal, the more complicated and ‘less attractive’ the deal will become, citing significant change in the fundamentals of the deal.

“The envisaged transaction involves a number of players and each player has placed a specific premium on an aspect of it,” said Nzioka Waita, Safaricom’s director of corporate affairs.

“With the passage of time and the lack of clarity on the regulatory direction of our application, some aspects of the transaction are starting to look less attractive to interested parties, thus undermining the collective premium of the overall transaction,” Waita added.

Both Safaricom and Airtel had offered to acquire yuMobile’s assets and subscribers in the country, with Safaricom acquiring the operator’s infrastructure and Airtel acquiring the company’s prefix and subsequently its 2.7 million subscribers.

Commenting on the delayed approval process, yuMobile’s country manager, Madhur Taneja said, “We are extremely disappointed with the delay in getting a response from the regulator and I am not sure what kind of message we are sending to the parties involved in this transaction or to our employees and subscribers.”

Airtel on the other hand, through its spokesman Michael Okwiri, has maintained that there has been no change in the operator’s position when it comes to the buyout deal.

Speaking to ITWebAfrica, Noah Mutai, an IT research lecturer and telecommunications analyst at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) said, “Safaricom’s fears could be valid considering that the deal was only viable provided Airtel was part of it.”

“If Airtel pulls out, say due to a drop in yuMobile’s subscribers, Safaricom could be left as the only buyer, implying that acquisition of yuMobile’s infrastructure and subscribers will come at a higher price for the operator.”

Mutai added that Safaricom could also be acting strategically to avoid a scenario where it would have to deal with another headache from the Competition Authority of Kenya, over ‘market monopolisation’.

“If Safaricom acquires both yuMobile’s infrastructure and subscribers, the operator’s market share will skyrocket to over 70%, something that experts can comfortably term as monopolisation of a market,” added Mutai,

“The remaining operators will have less competitive advantage, something that could seriously jeopardise the gains made in Kenya’s telecommunications industry.”