Shareholders of Kenya's dominant mobile operator Safaricom have approved a joint buyout of rival network yuMobile.

The move is expected to help Safaricom expand its spectrum in a bid to boost its 'Quality of Service' (QoS) and fast-track the roll-out of LTE connectivity.

Shareholders agreed on the buyout at Safaricom's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday.

And Safaricom chief executive officer (CEO) Bob Collymore termed the approval a "strategic stride" in addressing QoS concerns caused by limited spectrum availability.

"Quality of Service has been one of the pain points for us all at Safaricom," Collymore said.

"Just to paint some context around this issue, all mobile network operators have broadly the same amount of radio spectrum. What this means is that we have a disproportionately small amount of spectrum relative to our competitors given that we serve our 22 million customers compared to our competitors who have less than 6 million customers," the CEO said.

Collymore said that to date, Safaricom has tried to address spectrum constraints through investments in its network of KSh.27 billion ($303 million) each year.

"This year, however, we will be making a more strategic stride in addressing this problem by investing in additional spectrum," he said.

"The new spectrum will come from the purchase of the passive network owned by Essar Telecom - or yuMobile - subject of course to the agreement you have just given us at this AGM, and regulatory approval from both the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK)," Collymore told shareholders.

In March 2014, Safaricom and competitor Airtel agreed to the joint buy-out of yuMobile from parent Essar Telecom for approximately $120 million.

As part of the deal, Safaricom is planned to inherit yuMobile's infrastructure -- including the much needed additional spectrum -- while Airtel is taking over yuMobile's GSM operating licence and its approximately three million subscribers. yuMobile employees are to be taken on by both operators.

Subsequently, the CA granted approval of the deal earlier this month, while the shareholders "gave the nod of approval" on Tuesday.

At the AGM, Collymore also told shareholders that Kenya's government has agreed to sell Safaricom additional spectrum, which could further boost network QoS improvement efforts.

"The government has also agreed to sell to us a portion of the 800 megahertz (Mhz) spectrum for US$75million," Collymore said.

In addition to improving network QoS, Safaricom noted that additional spectrum will also help with its LTE network efforts.

"[The added spectrum] will pave the way for the introduction of 4G (LTE) services which will provide faster internet for our customers," Collymore said.

Safaricom chairman Nicholas Nganga also confirmed that the network has successfully tested LTE in Kenya. And following the yuMobile acquisition, Safaricom plans launching an LTE service within the next financial year.

"Following successful tests, we are now ready to roll out 4G services in the next financial year. This is however dependent on the acquisition of additional spectrum," he said.

"Our industry is going through a period of rapid evolution. The digital era is in full bloom globally and transforming the way people use information and communication technology. As a market leader we will leverage on our capabilities to continuously pursue the new opportunities for growth presented by these developments," Nganga said.

Safaricom has over 21 million subscribers in Kenya, according to statistics from the CA.