To reinforce its focus on massive digital giants, the state would raise the bar for telecom companies to be deemed dominant to more than 50% of the overall market’s gross revenue.

The dominance ceiling was increased by a government-supported Bill from 25% of the relevant gross market to the level set by Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK). The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) had been unable to declare any provider dominant or penalize abuse of market dominance due to the conflicting legislation.

In accordance with current law, major telecommunications must “file tariffs, rates, terms, and conditions of interconnection with CA,” but if the Bill is approved, this need will be removed. The operator that has been labeled dominant must now acquire permission from the communications authority before announcing its pricing to the market, in contrast to earlier laws.

A chosen dominant operator is given significant operating responsibilities under the proposed law, and abuse of dominance is punishable by harsh fines.

Safaricom’s competitors want the government to recognize the firm as a major telecom provider so that they can stay in business. Safaricom is the market leader. Because it does not restrict competition, Safaricom claims that its success shouldn’t be punished.

In comparison to Airtel, which lagged with 26.3 percent and 3.1 percent, the company had 66 percent of SIM card subscriptions and 96.8 percent of mobile money at the end of December.

In spite of significant changes like the introduction of mobile money and home Internet, Kenya’s telecommunications industry is now governed by the Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998, which has undergone only minor adjustments.