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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Business Reporter
THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe has renewed Telecel Zimbabwe’s operating licence after the country’s second mobile phone company made a commitment to comply with the requirement to have a local majority shareholder, the authority said yesterday. Telecel is 60 percent owned by Telecel International while 40 percent is owned by a local consortium, Empowerment Corporation. The move will come as a huge relief to thousands of Telecel subscribers who were no longer able to call subscribers on the Econet platform after they were cut off.
Last month, Econet Wireless suspended interconnection with Telecel saying it was not a holder of a valid licence. The shareholding structure contravenes local laws, in particular the Postal and Telecommunications Act and the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which requires locals to have majority stakes in mobile phone companies.
It also violates the shareholders’ agreement which required the transfer of 20 percent shareholding from Telecel International to the Empowerment Corporation five years from the date of issuance of the licence.
Telecel got its first operating licence in 1998 and was due for renewal in June this year.
“Having noted the conclusion of negotiations between the Government of Zimbabwe and Telecel Zimbabwe regarding the renewal of Telecel Zimbabwe national mobile telecommunication licence, the authority hereby advises members of the public that Telecel Zimbabwe’s mobile telecommunication licence has been renewed,” Potraz said in a statement yesterday.
“In reaching this decision, the authority, in particular, took note of the commitment made by Telecel Zimbabwe Limited to comply with the requirement to have a local majority shareholding, in line with Section 36 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, the Indigenisation Act and the Telecel shareholding agreement.”
Econet, the country’s largest mobile operator, said its new 20-year licence had certain strict conditions which require the company to interconnect only with licensed operators.
“Econet Wireless does not have any legal or moral obligation to interconnect with an unlicensed operator,” the company said in a statement issued last week.
“In fact, we have a duty to disconnect such an operator. Econet Wireless has fully met the terms of its new licence, which terms include hugely burdensome financial obligations. In contrast, Telecel has not been subjected to any such financial obligations. With no such burden upon it, Telecel has been free to deliberately engage in trading practices that have distorted the playing field.”
It is understood that senior Telecel International executives jetted into the country on Monday to lead negotiations to regularise the shareholding structure at the mobile phone company whose ownership has been mired in controversy over the past few years. Details of the proposed shareholding changes were not immediately available.
Online Reporter