After a drawn battle, Employees of Essar Telecom’s phone company yuMobile have withdrawn a case, before a Nairobi court, on the matter of the exit of the company from Kenya through acquisition by Safaricom and Airtel Kenya.
Safaricom and Airtel Kenya had previously expressed interest in acquiring yuMobile’s infrastructure and subscribers at Ksh 8 billion, but yuMobile employees moved to court to block the exit plan and acquisition as they had not been guaranteed whether the two companies would absorb them into their operations.
But since the plans to close down the yuMobile brand in Kenya seemed to be going ahead, both parties came to an out-of-court settlement. As part of a separation package, the employees are set to receive a 60-day severance pay for every completed year of service and a bonus of one month’s salary at the point of exit from the company. They will also remain subscribed to medical cover up till August 31 this year, to allow them time to seek alternative schemes. The employees have also urged yuMobile management to make efforts to negotiate their possible recruitment with either Safaricom or Airtel once the acquisition is finalized.
But it is yet unclear if the acquisition, which is at Safaricom and Airtel’s discretion, will proceed as Safaricom has expressed unhappiness over strict rules from the country’s regulator.
Photocredit: Miami Agent
