'Telecel could yet retain mobile license,' says Mandiwanzira

Telecel Zimbabwe still has an opportunity to keep its mobile-phone license after it was withdrawn by the industry regulator for a failure to comply with local ownership laws.

The company "has a window to survive and operate," Information and Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwanzira told lawmakers in Harare, the capital. "There is still room for Telecel Zimbabwe to follow the law."

Telecel, about 60 percent owned by Amsterdam-based VimpelCom through its Egyptian unit Orascom, was told by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe on April 29 that its license had been canceled as of the previous day.

The decision was made due to "non-compliance with shareholding requirements" that demand companies are majority owned by black nationals, Mandiwanzira said, adding that he is meeting company officials on Tuesday.

Telecel offered to transfer 11 percent of its shares to workers and therefore reduce foreign ownership to about 49 percent, the company said in a letter to employees last week. The company will challenge the decision, it said.

Telecel is the country's second largest mobile-phone network with more than 2.5 million active subscribers, according to its website.