By Macharia Kamau

Telkom-Kenya has warned that cable vandalism might affect the smooth operations of fibre optic communication if the vice goes on unchecked.

The company’s Chief Executive Dominique Saint-Jean said vandalism on the fixed line copper network has seen Telkom lose hundreds of millions of shillings every year in the past and is now a threat to the new fibre optic network.

"If it is not addressed, vandalism will evolve and affect the new communication highway," he said.

The vice has been prevalent on the copper cable network and has seen Telkom-Kenya spend heavily to deploy security or on repair works.

The money, the firm says, should have gone to the development of infrastructure.

Saint-Jean spoke on Monday at the Standard Group offices when senior Telkom-Kenya officials paid a courtesy call to the Group’s managing director Paul Wanyagah.

Telkom-Kenya, which announced that it subscriber base on its Orange mobile network hit the one million mark last week, wants to increase its revenue base by tapping into the corporate market segment through its recently launched Orange Business Services.

Deputy chief executive Peter Reinartz said the company’s efforts have, so far, targeted the residential and mass market but with the new product, it will now capture small and large corporations.

Orange Business Services integrate all the Orange products on the same platform.

Saint-Jean also called on the Government to review charges levied on operators so as to increase mobile telephony penetration in the country.

"As it is, operators tend to look towards profitable areas, which are mostly urban areas, and there is a risk that the rural areas might be left behind," he said.

Currently, though mobile telephone penetration stands at an average of 43.6 per cent by end of last year, it is skewed in favour of urban areas where the average revenue per user is high. Thus, while mobile telephony networks cover over 80 per cent of the population, they only cover 32 per cent of the country geographically as they concentrate on offering services to densely populated areas.

Mr Wanyaga said the Government should consider giving more incentives not only to mobile phone operators but also other sectors of the economy in this year’s budget to keep consumer prices from soaring.

"We are hoping that the Ministry of Finance will give a stimulus package to ensure that the country attracts value added investments," he said.