140 ex-yuMobile staff report Monday for work at Safaricom

Essar Telecom Kenya Limited Yu Mobile Country Manager Madhur Taneja. About 140 former yuMobile employees are set to start work at Safaricom on Monday, as part of the Sh11 billion joint buyout that also saw Airtel take over the exiting rival’s customers a fortnight ago. PHOTO | FILE 

In Summary

• Safaricom paid yuMobile Sh7.2 billion last year to acquire the Indian-owned telco’s assets, frequency spectrum, transmission towers and IT equipment as well as 150 employees.
• Airtel Kenya paid Sh4 billion to the global conglomerate Essar to acquire its customer base and use the brand name for at least two years.
• The bulk (70) of the staff will be absorbed into Safaricom’s technical team which focuses on both network and hardware equipment.

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI
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About 140 former yuMobile employees are set to start work at Safaricom on Monday, as part of the Sh11 billion joint buyout that also saw Airtel take over the exiting rival’s customers a fortnight ago.

The move by Safaricom to integrate the ex-yuMobile employees into its workforce is yet another significant step toward closing the multi-billion shilling transaction.

Airtel Kenya integrated 2.55 million yuMobile customers (and 25 staff) into its network two weeks ago.

“The former yuMobile employees are officially joining the company on February 2, bringing the acquisition to a close,” said Safaricom’s corporate affairs director Nzioka Waita in an interview.

Safaricom paid yuMobile Sh7.2 billion last year to acquire the Indian-owned telco’s assets, frequency spectrum, transmission towers and IT equipment as well as 150 employees.

Airtel Kenya paid Sh4 billion to the global conglomerate Essar to acquire its customer base and use the brand name for at least two years.

The bulk (70) of the staff will be absorbed into Safaricom’s technical team which focuses on both network and hardware equipment.

About five will be deployed in M-Pesa business while the rest will go to business support, HR, risk, marketing and strategy departments.
Safaricom said they had all been absorbed “at similar or higher positions than they had at Essar”.

“The new staff members will first go through a week’s orientation before being deployed to their stations,” said Mr Waita. The new staff will be based at Essar House in Westlands, which was also part of the acquisition.

READ: Safaricom and Airtel to absorb 175 yuMobile staff