[The orange service provider. The company has been sold to UK-based private equit firm Helios Investiment] (orange-telecom).
Telekom Kenya has dropped its suffix, after the decision by the French-owned telecommunication firm to sell its entire stake to UK-based private equity firm Helios investment partners after a decade of loss making operations.
The company unveiled a new corporate identity that will usher in a new dawn from the past struggling telecommunication service provider.
The president unveiled the new brand Tuesday morning, after ending of the 18- month grace period given to Helios by orange to maintain the ‘Orange’ brand being part of the Sh30 billion deal which was signed in late 2015.
This will mark the end of the France owned company which has been operating in the country for the last nine years, an era which has seen the company operate under losses and experience a limited growth of the number customers and revenues.
“We are looking at a new era, where Telkom Kenya will no longer be looked at as a 'sleeping giant' as has been the case, and our users and the market are about to witness a new entity,” said the firms incoming technology officer, John Bororot.
Helios investment partners bought 70 per cent of the stake owned by orange but ceded a 10 per cent to national treasury retaining 60 per cent, this saw the government stake rise from 30 to 40 per cent.
The decision by orange comes after the company frustrations grew as the government was unable to clear the path for the restructuring of one of Kenya’s oldest institutions.