Zambia to hold talk with two suitors for Zamtel sale
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has selected two firms for talks to buy a majority stake in Zambia’s fixed-line phone operator Zamtel. The two firms are Angola’s Unitel and Libya’s LAP Green Networks and the talks are expected to start later this month for the purchase of 75 percent of Zamtel.
Despite monopoly rights, Zamtel which is Zambia’s only licensed fixed-line provider of voice and data communications has performed poorly and its revenue for the year to end-December was $100 million. It has also been criticized by opposition politicians and trade unions, who say Zambians should hold a bigger stake in the company.
According to Zamtel, ZDA Director General Andrew Chipwende, the company is expecting to commence concessions with the two bidders for Zamtel by the third week of April and the target is to try and conclude the process by the end of June.
Zamtel shortlists three companies for its privatization bid
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A step ahead has been taken in the privatization bid of Zambia’s telecommunications operator Zamtel. The step has been taken after the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) short listed three companies to continue the bidding with Indian state owned telco BSNL withdrawing from the bidding.
Angola’s Unitel, Libya’s LAP Green Networks and Russia’s Altimo are now the three shortlisted companies by Zamtel. BSNL withdrew after carrying out due diligence on the company.
According to ZDA privatization manager Henry Sakala, the bids will be subjected to an evaluation by the ZDA and after the evaluation they will be presented to the ZDA board, which will make a decision on which companies with which to negotiate.
The negotiation with the bidders will be done by an independent team to be appointed which will try and avoid the political problems that have bedeviled privatizations in other countries.
Zambian government under pressure to release Zamtel valuation report
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zambia’s civil society organizations have pressurized the Government to release the valuation report it commissioned to sell its majority stakes in a fixed line incumbent Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel).
According to Fackson Shamenda, former Zambia Congress of Trade Union president, there has not been much transparency in the sale of Zamtel and with the release of the information the potential concerns over the sales will be cleared.
Earlier this year the government had appointed RP Capital to evaluate the telco’s assets, after deciding to sell 75% stake in Zamtel. However they never released the report. This led to complaints saying that there has been no transparency in the process.
According to The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), eight companies including Portugal Telecom, Orascom Telecom and Vimpelcom have pre-qualified for the stake sale, and those firms are due to complete due diligence today, with bids due by midday. The ZDA will release the identity of those companies that have submitted bids for the stake and after reviewing the bids announce the shortlisted candidates on January11.
Telcos of India, Libya & Angola bid for Zamtel
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Three companies from India, Libya and Angola, have submitted their bids for state-run Zambia Telecommunications Co. also known as Zamtel in its partial privatization.
The bidding period ended with the submission of these three offers in Zamtel, informed the acting director general of the Zambia Development Agency, Muhabi Lungu.
According to Lungu, LAP Green of Libya, Unitel of Angola and Bharat Sanchar Nigam of India have submitted their offers to buy up to a 75% stake in the company.
In October the list of suitors had came down to eight from the 30 firms who had earlier shown interest. Criticizing the sale, the opposition party said that Zambia should retain a larger stake in the company. The shortlisted candidates will be announced by January11.
ZDA looks for equity partner for Zamtel (Zambia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) reportedly unveils that an equity partner for the Zambian incumbent Zamtel will be chosen through an open tender process. Moreover, the announced that the tender would be open to both local and foreign companies.
The announcement was made after the governement last month announced the sale of a 75% stake in the telco in a bid to save it from collapse; the remaining 25% will be retained by the state.
The winner of the tender will receive its stake in Zamtel by January 2009, which will cost around USD200 million to capitalise the ailing operator.
