According to a Reuters report, Celtel, Africa's third-largest mobile phone company, wants governments to review interconnection laws in order to make telephony easier and cheaper, a company representative said.

Celtel, which operates in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa wants regulatory changes to help it unify its regional network spanning Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

"What we are saying is regulation should allow for direct interconnectivity," Celtel Chief Operating Officer Omari Issa said.

"At the moment, to route a call from a town in Kenya bordering another in Tanzania you are required by regulation in both countries to route that call via Telkom Kenya and Tanzania Telecommunication Company," he said.

Celtel, with a subscriber base of about four million, is the only mobile firm with operations in the neighbouring east African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

"By the end of next year, we expect to have around 10 million subscribers. So when we say we are growing fast, we are really growing fast," said Tito Alai, Celtel's chief marketing officer.

Since being founded by Mohamed Ibrahim around 1998, Netherlands-based Celtel has grown to rank third in Africa behind Vodacom and MTN in terms of customers. Celtel invested $250 million in Kenya's second mobile operator KenCell in May, including the purchase of a 60% stake that was owned by Vivendi.

"We have bureaucratic regulatory regimes, the mobile entry cost is high, and the handsets are expensive," said Issa.

Intelecon Research & Consultancy Ltd. 24/09/2004