Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala Dar Es Salaam
TANZANIA’S government had agreed a deal to buy back a 35 percent stake in a state-run telecoms company from the local subsidiary of India’s top cellular operator Bharti Airtel for 14.6 billion shillings (R85 million), a senior official said yesterday.
The east African nation says it wants to regain 100 percent ownership of the Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL) to recapitalise the cash-strapped firm, which provides mobile voice, data and fixed-line services.
“Legal procedures are now being finalised for the government to buy back Airtel’s shares in TTCL and regain sole ownership of the company,” January Makamba, the Deputy Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, said on Tuesday.
“The Tanzanian government has decided to regain 100 percent ownership of TTCL in order to rescue the company.”
The Tanzanian government has been in talks with Bharti Airtel over the deal for the past five years but failed to reach agreement on the price until the recent breakthrough.
Communications is one of the fastest-growing sectors in east Africa’s second-biggest economy, with seven players in the mobile telecoms industry fighting for market share, forcing tariffs lower.
Bharti Airtel Tanzania is the second-largest cellular operator in the country after Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa’s Vodacom Group. – Reuters