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Safaricom brushes off Airtel threat Bharti Airtel's chest thumping has been dismissed by Safaricom which has vowed to up the ante even further despite Airtel's statement that it is going to become the leading operator within the next three years.   Responding to the threat of a formidable rival into the country's telecoms sector, Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said that the company is going to leverage on knowledge of the local market to ward off competition from other service providers. Joseph on Wednesday acknowledged increasing competition in the market but said they are not going to be drawn into vicious marketing gimmicks to retain their lead. “We can’t pretend that we don’t have a new offering coming in from Bharti very soon. But we have withstood the two companies that have come before them promising to eat our lunch and never did,” Mr Joseph said. He added that Safaricom was in a unique position to maintain a sizeable share of the market. Joseph is however resigned to the fact that there is going to be a slight erosion of its market share with the entry of more players into the sector. Nevertheless, the man at the helm of the region’s most profitable company said the focus would be on retaining its high revenue earnings by giving consumers services they need. “Of course, our 78 percent market share by SIM numbers will decline; it is a mathematical certainty. What is important for us is to maintain our market share by revenue which is more important,” he said. In its 2009 financial year, Safaricom’s revenues grew by 19.1 percent to Sh83.9 billion from a previous Sh70.4 billion. The growth was mainly driven by a 137.6 percent jump in data revenues as it looks to reduce its dependency on voice revenue alone. Bharti has announced plans to pump Sh12 billion in a bid to push the Airtel brand to the rural areas signaling a battle based on pricing for subscribers. Airtel will be looking to increase its market share by focusing on rural areas and lowering communication costs.   Read 0 Comments... >>

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