Guys, having looked at the more recent posts, I think I should offer some clarifications and also fault some positions taken here.

1 - When SCON bought the two WiMax players, it was really acquiring spectrum and some infrastructure - not a burdensome load but a good deal. The same cannot be said of AK - we all remember what it cost to acquire open view and despite all the brouhaha - that unit is yet to make serious inroads in outsourced IT (if anything, SCOM have a better strategy in this regard under Safaricom Business - not just the connectivity but managed services).

2 - Its unlikely Bharti will acquire AK. Thats wishful thinking by shareholders eager to drop a hot potato. Bharti's business model os all abt opex and not capex - recall the recent deal with IBM? Even prior to being acquired by Bharti, Zain was gravitating in that direction by selling off its towers/BTS to Nokia Siemens Networks (and with them, a good number of staff were also "sold" to Nokia. So they lease the towers and do not need to retain headcount to maintain the towers. So, its about oursourcing all those things - why acquire AK? They can get fibre capacity from KPLC, KDN, SEACOm, JAMII, etc etc. the 600 corporates are not really that important either - these are possibly customers who will churn in the next 3-6 months (to SCOM Business, Zuku, etc).

3 - lets also remember who is a shareholder in Zain/Bhart - Sameer Group. They own KDN (now Altech East Africa) and that is the biggest backbone infrastructure operator in EAST AFRICA. So why covet AK's metro fibre when a "sister" company has fibre to Tororo Uganda, into Tanzania, all over Kenya and distributing capacity for SEACOM. Lets remember AK only has 2.5% shareholding in TEAMS. Bharti has 20% and I cannot recall how much KDN has, buit a good chunk as well.

4 - BTS vs Fibre - one is not an alternative to the other - one is switching and the other is transmission....

Hope this helps. I do not see Bharti buying AK. Maybe Wananchi Telecom (Zuku) - they had indicated a desire to list but the time was not right (SCOM was listing and one other IPO....)....and they have a broader regional and product strategy (broadcasting/cable TV)....and...at their back end is KDN.

@Djinn - Please explain more about BTS vs Fibre...

I thought BTS Stations can easily replace the 'last mile' fibre connections?

Sparkly!! Who has given you the permission to think like me??i feel like you although am seeing a rally coming

Yes they can on the ACCESS part of the network (which connects to the switching). So the last mile for GSM is the 1-2km to the nearest base transceiver station (BTS)...or if its WiMax...the same 2-5 km from the WiMax BTS....or if its CDMA...the last 5-10km of air between your device and the BTS. So for access, you can replace last mile for Internet only - not voice and at least not mobile voice

But...say you are calling a mobile in MSA from your mobile....your signal will got to the BTS then to the Mobile switching centre and EITHER go wireless (microwave) or wired (cable/fibre) to the MSC in Mombasa to be relayed to the BTS nearest to the subscriber. Thats the transmission part which is being replaced...i.e. replacing MW with fibre. Another example, we see it now costs 3 bob to call the US on Zain and 40 bob to call Uganda - even if you are in Busia....because the Ug side of fibre is not complete so the calls have to be routed through Satellite....thus the cost. Whereas the cost of calling the US is lower since the call is routed through fibre (International VoIP).

So AK which sort of provides the last mile using it's Metro Ring is not a prized catch as Safaricom, Orange & Airtel installs BTS (WiMax + GSM/GPRS + CDMA) all around Nairobi...

For all I know, KPLC can provide 'fibre' around Nairobi to the BTS...