Synopsis
Kenya’s GSM mobile market finally moved beyond a duopoly at the end of 2008 when Econet and Telkom Kenya launched services as the third and fourth player, the latter under France Telecom’s Orange brand. In addition, fixed-line incumbent Telkom Kenya had already been operating a CDMA-based wireless network offering mobility since 2006. The initial public offering (IPO) in April 2008 of the country's leading mobile operator, Safaricom, was highly successful. Kenya's second largest GSM network is operated by Zain. Convergence is ever-present in this dynamic and fast growing market, with VoIP enabling cheaper calls through new international gateways, the introduction of 3G mobile services catapulting the mobile operators into the virtually untapped broadband sector, and mobile banking services empowering the largely un-banked population.