Telkom Kenya conference attracts 6 bidders(Kenya)A government conference in Nairobi on the planned privatisation of Telkom Kenya has attracted six potential bidders, according to local press reports. These include the Indian operators MTNL, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications, as well as France Telecom, South Africa’s Telkom, BT and Kuwait’s Alkazar. The government is holding an informative conference on the privatisation process, with technical bids due late this autumn. The winner of the bidding for a 51 percent stake in Telkom will be announced in November. Telkom also announced that it has finalised plans for the third and final phase of its reorganisation, with another 4,400 staff to be laid off by September. CFO David Muriithi told the East African Standard that the company is also working to clear its balance sheet of debt before the privatisation, and is in talks on transferring some debt to the government along with its 60 percent stake in mobile operator Safaricom. The government is also open to issuing Telkom with the country’s fourth mobile licence, in order to sweeten the offer for potential bidders, reports Business Daily.
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