Safaricom to continue hold on 4G licence
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya director-general, Mr Francis Wangusi, Safaricom will pay Sh6.45 billion to have its application for a new spectrum approved.
A company claiming ownership of the 4G frequencies awarded to Safaricom for the roll-out of a Sh14.9 billion police communication system will have to wait until full hearing of its case to know whether the spectrum will revert to it.
This is after a three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal in its ruling last week declined a request by Tetra Radio, which wanted the hearing put off to give priority to its application filed in July that seeks to set aside a consent order that it entered with the Communications Authority of Kenya last year.
The consent order was recorded in the Court of Appeal, in which Tetra accepted not to enforce the High Court award that gave it a right to the frequencies pending determination of the appeal.
“The determination of the appeal will be in the interest of both parties since it will resolve the substantive matter and accordingly we reject the stay of appeal,” said the judges in the ruling read by Mr Justice Erastus Githinji on behalf of Philomena Mwilu and John Mwera.
This article first appeared in the Business Daily.
