Things are moving towards liberalisation of the telco market around the world. Latest international news we caught involves Zambia where government plans to sell three-quarters of its stake in the state-owned Zambia Telecommunications Corporation (Zamtel) to a private investor and eventually float the remaining 25% onto the local stock exchange.
According to President Banda, this kind of partial privatization is the only way to resolve the financial problems the company is facing. Apparently, Zamtel needs a capital injection of around $200 million.
For the record, an attempt to sell the stake earlier this year to a private equity group became mired in political controversy, due to judicial investigation which was ordered into Communications and Transport Minister, Dora Siliya.
Zambia currently has three mobile network operators — Zain, MTN and Zamtel — which hold 70%, 20% and 10% share of the market, respectively. Until Zamtel is returned to economic viability, there are no plans to offer additional operator licenses in the country…
[Via: CellularNews]