NAIROBI - Kenyan
mobile telephone operators are expected to raise calling rates for
customers on the back of a weak shilling against the dollar and
persistently high inflation, a top official at the country's ministry of
communications said on Monday.
Calling rates have been falling for a year after India's Bharti
Airtel, the No.2 operator in the market, slashed prices by more than
half in a bid to lure subscribers from the biggest operator, Safaricom.
The shilling has in the year to date lost 18 percent against the
dollar, touching an all-time low of 95.65 on Monday, while inflation
rose to 16.67 percent in August from less than 5 percent last December.
"Even they (operators) are hard-pressed like everybody else, so
I'm almost certain there will be a slight increase in calling rates,"
Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the ministry of communications,
told Reuters at an event hosted by Google
"It won't be significant but I think they may adjust to recover from the shocks they have had."
Safaricom Chief Executive Bob Collymore started the debate on
whether firms should raise charges when he said last week his firm did
not have plans to do so yet, but added higher costs of running the
network pointed in that direction.
A spokesman for Airtel Kenya told Reuters the firm had not made a
decision on pricing despite higher fuel costs, rising inflation, a
weaker shilling and higher network investment.
"All these increased costs are escalating the cost of running the
network and putting a strain on our margins. We are yet to make a
decision on the way forward, even though we are closely monitoring each
of these elements," said Dick Omondi.
Source: Reuters
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