Business / Companies
Telecel licence expires
11 Jul 2013 at 06:28hrs | Views
TELECEL Zimbabwe's mobile operator's licence has expired and the company is battling to address anomalies in its shareholding, a precondition to having it renewed.
The country's second biggest mobile phone operator's 15-year licence expired last month, but extending it would require the company to first transfer its controlling stake to locals. Apart from losing sleep over the staggering US$137 million required for licence renewal; this time for a 20-year tenure, Telecel is also grappling with addressing its lopsided shareholding to ensure locals assume a controlling interest.
Telecel Zimbabwe is owned 60 percent by Telecel Global, now part of Russian Telecommunications group Vimpelcom, which last year bought into Telecel Global's Egyptian shareholders, Orascom. The 40 percent balance is held by an indigenous entity, Empowerment Corporation.
Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Minister Nicholas Goche, whose ministry oversees telecoms operations, recently said the company's cellular operator's licence will not be renewed until it has rectified the shareholding anomaly.
It is not clear if the firm had fully complied with regulatory requirements considering that its licence has expired having successfully contested its cancellation by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe back in 2007 over its shareholding structure anomaly.
Potraz indicated yesterday that the Telecel shareholding and licence issues were now policy matters that only the parent ministry could handle.
The country's second biggest mobile phone operator's 15-year licence expired last month, but extending it would require the company to first transfer its controlling stake to locals. Apart from losing sleep over the staggering US$137 million required for licence renewal; this time for a 20-year tenure, Telecel is also grappling with addressing its lopsided shareholding to ensure locals assume a controlling interest.
Telecel Zimbabwe is owned 60 percent by Telecel Global, now part of Russian Telecommunications group Vimpelcom, which last year bought into Telecel Global's Egyptian shareholders, Orascom. The 40 percent balance is held by an indigenous entity, Empowerment Corporation.
Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Minister Nicholas Goche, whose ministry oversees telecoms operations, recently said the company's cellular operator's licence will not be renewed until it has rectified the shareholding anomaly.
It is not clear if the firm had fully complied with regulatory requirements considering that its licence has expired having successfully contested its cancellation by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe back in 2007 over its shareholding structure anomaly.
Potraz indicated yesterday that the Telecel shareholding and licence issues were now policy matters that only the parent ministry could handle.
Source - herald
