The redundancies will affect engineers and also support office staff

Telekom Kenya is set to make 575 of its 800 staff redundant, ahead of its proposed merger with Airtel Africa, according to reports in the press.

“Telkom Kenya must terminate the employees that are currently deployed to serve in these functions. Other employees who provide administrative and/or support services are also likely to be impacted,” Telekom Kenya’s chief executive, Mugo Kibat, told reporters from the Citizen news site.

Telekom Kenya said that the employees had already been notified of the decision.

Telekom Kenya announced its intention to merge with Airtel Africa in February this year. The ,merger is subject to the standard regulatory approval process.

Last month, Kenya’s Communications Authority said that it would make a decision on whether to approve the proposed merger before the 15th of August 2019.

“The authority intends to grant approval or no objection to the intended merger, subject to the parties fulfilling certain conditions,” said CA in a Kenya Gazette notice. “The said representation and or objection must be filed on or before the expiry of thirty days from the date of this notice [15th July 2019] and a copy of the same be forwarded to the Mobile Network Operators.”