Wananchi Group receives Sh11.6b from shareholders

Nairobi; Kenya: Shareholders of Wananchi Group, owners of the Zuku Fiber, Zuku pay TV and Simbanet business services brands have injected Sh11.57 billion($130 million) of additional capital in the business.

The funds would be used to finance the group's growth and expansion drive in East and Southern African region. In a statement yesterday Vice Chairman Richard Bell said the funds would also be invested in new technologies and service platforms to improve the quality of the products.

"The new capital investment will be used to consolidate the group's market leadership in East Africa and to extend our services across East and Southern Africa," he said.

"We will continue the deployment of fiber to the home networks in more cities in East Africa and extend our business services networks and product offerings across a wide variety of geographies and market segments."

"We believe this capital injection will enable the Wananchi Group to extend the coverage of its infrastructure as well as build upon its strong broadband-led triple play product offering," said Dennis Aluanga, a partner at Helios, one of the investors.

"These include direct to home satellite products to many thousands of consumers across the greater Eastern Africa region and beyond.