Parliament is set to investigate the alleged abuse of dominance in the telecom sector and the pricing of the major telecommunication services.
Last week, Parliament’s Committee on Information Communication and Telecommunication suggested reviewing the Kenya Information and Communication Act (KICA) 1998, a move that could see the Act amended.
A memo from this Committee read:
“Concerns have been raised on the alleged abuse of dominance in the telecommunications sector. In light of these concerns, the National Assembly has resolved to conduct an inquiry into the legislative and regulatory gaps affecting that sector.”
Amending KICA, 1998
According to the Committee, possible legislative recommendations would entail addressing any anti-competitive factors in the telecom sector that are inhibiting growth. The Parliamentary Committee will also investigate allocation and the market share of every telco.
“We will also look at mobile money services and rates, including transaction charges, transfer fees, loans and interest, airtime and data rates, including airtime loans and service fees,” said the committee.
Parliament has once before attempted to amend this act. In March 2017, ex-MP GEM Constituency Jakoyo Midiwo proposed the amendment of the Act where telecom firms would separate their businesses based on service provisions such as mobile money, voice, and data.
“The changes will require telecommunications mobile service provider to split, or separate telecommunications business such as mobile telephone business from other services such as mobile money transfers, transport, healthcare, banking etc,” read the suggested amendments.
However, the proposal did not go through for failing to obtain enough support from the House.
