Airtel cuts staff in cost cutting drive

Airtel Kenya has announced to lay off employees as the business continues to struggle to turn a profit.

In a statement the firm did not disclose how many employees would be affected by the move only saying it cut across all departments.

This is the second mass layoff by Airtel Kenya in under a year after the firm sent home 60 employees in January 2016.

“Airtel Kenya is undertaking strategic organizational restructuring to improve efficiency across functions with an aim to enhance customer experience. This initiative will impact some roles that will be merged or become redundant,” Airtel said in a statement.

The company said that the retrenchment was necessary since the telecom firm had to realign its structure with its operating model.

The restructuring is expected to help the telecom turn a profit, even as it cites a tough operating environment.

In redundancy letters seen by Citizen Digital, affected employees will be entitled to ex gratia payment equivalent to one month’s pay, one month’s pay in lieu of notice salary and allowances up to February 13 as well as payment for unutilized accrued leave days.

Airtel has in the past hit out at the Communications Authority and the Competition Authority of not declaring Safaricom, the country’s largest telecom operator, dominant in a move geared towards ensuring it operates in a more favorable market.

The Ministry of ICT will next week release a study into whether any of Kenya’s three mobile operators should be deemed dominant.

The Communications Authority of Kenya, ordered the independent study after persistent accusations by the smaller rivals that Safaricom, the biggest network by far, was dominant.

Smaller operators say Safaricom enjoys a dominant position because it accounts for 90 percent of the sector’s revenues in areas such as voice calls and text messages.

Despite the challenges, Airtel said it would continue investing in the market.

“Airtel remains committed to the Kenyan market and will continue to invest in order to drive innovation, enhance network quality and customer service delivery,” Airtel said in a statement sent to newsrooms.

Last year Airtel announced it would invest Sh20 billion until 2018 to fund expansion even as parent company Bharti Airtel scaled back operations in Africa.