Mumbai, Feb 8 (IANS): Airtel Kenya, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, on Friday announced its merger with Telkom Kenya and said the merged entity will operate as Airtel-Telkom.

The new entity will invest in networks to accelerate the roll-out of future technologies, Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

"Bharti Airtel Limited today announced the signing of an agreement by its subsidiary, Airtel Networks Kenya Limited (Airtel Kenya), with Telkom Kenya Limited (Telkom Kenya) for merging their respective mobile, enterprise and carrier services businesses in Kenya to operate as Airtel-Telkom," it said.

The finalisation and closure of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant authorities.

"The enterprise and carrier services businesses should benefit from a larger fibre footprint and an increased number of enterprise customers, including both large corporations and SMEs who would have access to a diverse portfolio of world-class solutions," it said.

The statement, however, did not mention any time frame for the merger to be completed.