The Chief Executive Officer of American Tower Corporation Kenya, Mr Thomas Sonesson, has today informed a Committee of the Senate that Telkom Kenya needs to pay ATC Kenya Kshs650 million so that it can be reconnected to its telecommunication infrastructure. 

This comes after Telkom Kenya defaulted on its payment worth Kshs4 billion to ATC Kenya under their Master Lease Agreement for a tower sale and leaseback transaction, forcing the telecommunications infrastructure owner and provider to finance Telkom’s operations. 

While appearing before the Senator Allan Chesang-led Committee, Mr Sonesson informed Senators that his corporation plays a critical role in realizing Vision 2030 adding that they have already offered Telkom a deal in an attempt to make them operational and, thus, attract investors. 

“Telkom Kenya has informed us that they want to be operational to attract investors. So, we have given them a proposal to pay at least Kshs650 million plus Kshs150 million in the following two months so that we can reconnect them to their infrastructure,” ATC Kenya’s CEO said. 

On their part, the Members of the Committee unanimously agreed that the issue at hand requires an urgent solution since Telkom hosts critical telecommunication infrastructure that’s of national security in nature, and pledged to do all it can to find a solution.  

 “This is a very serious issue which needs to be handled tactfully. Most importantly, we need to see the contract between ATC Kenya and Telkom Kenya so that we can determine who breached the agreement,” Senator Shakilla Mohamed, a Member of the ICT Committee, said. 

The Committee was also particularly concerned about ATC Kenya’s claim that Telkom Kenya continues to deny them access to lease sites, thus violating lease terms and affecting services like connectivity, mobile money transfers and voice communication.

“We’ll need to summon Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Hon. Kindiki Kithure, to share with us the reasons why the police aren’t providing ATC Kenya with the necessary protection to access their sites,” Senator Samson Cherarkey added. 

The Committee resolved to invite Telkom Kenya, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT and Digital Economy, The Competition Authority of Kenya, and the Attorney General to listen to their side of the story and find a lasting solution.