The Commission has licensed three companies – Finserve Africa Limited, Zioncell Kenya Limited and Mobile Pay Limited- with Mobile Virtual Network Operator licences.
The MVNOs will ride on communications infrastructure networks of existing Mobile Network Operators to provide cellular mobile services to end users including customer registration, SIM cards issuance, billing and customer care.
The MVNOs will however be assigned their own numbering range where they request and provide services as bona fide entities. The three newly licenced operators will be hosted on the Airtel Network.
This new licence category is among the benefits accrued from the Commission’s adoption of the Unified Licensing Framework (ULF) in 2008.
The ULF collapsed all the technology specific licenses into three categories: Network Facilities Provider (NFP), Application Service Provider (ASP) and Content Service Provider (CSP) with the aim to harness the technological opportunities presented by convergence.
The MVNO license has been issued under the ASP category.
CCK Director General Francis Wangusi said the entry of new players will spur growth and innovation in the sector.
‘‘MVNOs will have a chance to come up with innovative ways to make them have a competitive advantage over other players in the sector. It is going to be good to the consumer in terms of quality and affordability. As we go forward, we will expect lower call rates and greater innovation and improved services’’ he said.
He added that the MVNOs are obligated to provide services within the set Quality of Service (QoS) parameters and targets and that Commission would periodically monitor their performance to ensure they conform.
The MVNO phenomenon is increasingly becoming a common feature across the world with the GSM Association putting the figure at over 800 by 2012.Kenya is joining the league of other countries such as Australia with 52 MVNOs and Germany that has over 60 MVNO operators.
