Kenya’s Communications Authority has approved Safaricom’s requisite licences as it pushes to venture into full time television broadcasting.
Safaricom’s application for four TV broadcasting licences subject to objection from the public within a month have been approved, breathing life into its floundering Big Box Internet-enabled decoder launched on May 8.
The telco has been authorized to offer commercial free-to-air and Internet protocol TV services as well as subscription management and terrestrial subscription broadcasting services.
The commercial FTA TV licence allows Safaricom to now create own content and air it both terrestrially and online after its application for Internet protocol licence was also approved.
Safaricom is also now free to venture into the lucrative pay TV market, dominated by South Africa-owned MultiChoice Africa, after getting the terrestrial subscription broadcasting and management services licences.
The approvals means Safaricom can now mount competition on Wananchi Group-owned Zuku’s Triple Play offering – TV, telephone and Internet services.
Zuku offers Internet at a speed of 10 megabytes per second, free intra-network calls, about 100 own TV channels and free countrywide WiFi access through its hot spots for a monthly fee of Sh4,300.
