Safaricom paid Sh7.5 billion for Nairobi security network contract
The Treasury has paid telecoms operator Safaricom Sh7.5 billion as initial instalment for the 2014 building of a digital security system in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Safaricom pocketed the money in November after the Treasury set it aside in a mini-budget, according to documents tabled in Parliament.
The payout is about half of the total Sh14.9 billion that Safaricom expects from the deal it struck with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.
CONNECT POLICE STATIONS
The contract required Safaricom to instal CCTV cameras in Nairobi and Mombasa that transmit real time data to a central point at the police headquarters and to connect all police stations in the two cities to high-speed (4G) Internet.
Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore said that the government had committed to pay the remaining Sh7.4 billion in quarterly instalments of Sh939 million from December 24.
“(First) payment was done on November 24. Next quarterly payment was due on December 24 and will continue until full amount is recovered,” Mr Collymore said.
The payout is a major coup for the telecom operator, which is East Africa’s most profitable company, setting it on course to booking another year of record profit.
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SOURCE: Business Daily
