Essar Telecom Kenya sells its telecom business to Safaricom and Airtel Network Kenya

Essar Telecom Kenya Limited (ETKL) has sold its telecom business worth $120 million to Safaricom Limited and Bharti Airtel?s Kenyan subsidiary. With the contract, Safaricom will buy ETKL?s IT and office infrastructure while Airtel will acquire its 2.55 million subscribers. Also, around 90 per cent of the total employees of the company will be absorbed by Safaricom and Airtel. The complete transaction between the parties is likely to be concluded by the fourth quarter of 2014.

ETKL, part of Essar Group Limited, which provides telecom services in Kenya under the yuMobile brand, is the third largest mobile cellular network operator in the country. Earlier in August 2014, the Essar Group had also completed the sale of Aegis USA, a major outsourcing company in the United States, the Philippines and Costa Rica to Teleperformance for $610 million.