adminthe managing director for local operations expected to top the agenda.
According to sources the board will meet for the first time since Vimpelcom bought into Orascom, which controls the Telecel group to discuss strategic issues pertaining to the local mobile operator.
In the main, the board will discuss a recapitalisation strategy for Telecel Zimbabwe and the fate of Mr Aimable Mpore, the firm’s managing director.
“The board is expected to meet at the end of this month. A lot of issues will be discussed and a lot is expected to happen once the meeting has been held.
“You just need to wait and see. Various issues about the company will be discussed, including the issue of the MD and recapitalisation,” said a source.
Mr Mpore has been battling to obtain a work permit from the Department of Immigration Services since his two-year provision expired in April this year.
Telecel International had initially given him a two-year contract with an option for renewal subject to him successfully extending his initial work permit.
From the outset Mr Mpore struggled to obtain the permit having been deported the first time he sought one when it emerged he had misrepresented information on his expulsion from the Cote d’Ivoire in 2009.
The Telecel International board is also expected to discuss key issues regarding the recapitalisation of its local unit since Russia’s Vimpelcom bought in.
This follows the realisation that Telecel Zimbabwe will need to invest significantly on expansion to compete at the same level as Econet Wireless.
Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s largest telecommunications operator by value and subscriber base, has invested hundreds of millions on expansion.
Telecel Zimbabwe became part of Vimplecom after the giant Russian telecommunications group acquired a 51 percent shareholding in Orascom of Egypt, which holds a 60 percent shareholding in the local unit.
And Telecel Zimbabwe stands to benefit immensely from Vimpelcom’s deep pockets after the Russian mobile phone operator firm recently raised US$2,2 billion on European financial markets giving it a strong capital pool.
Undoubtedly, the Russian firm has a strong balance sheet valued at 7,9 billion euro with revenues amounting to US$5,5 billion in the interim to June 2011.
On the African continent the Orasom-Vimplecom interests in the telecomms industry spans several countries, which include Leo of Namibia, Telecel Burundi & Central African Republic, Djeezy in Algeria as well as Mobinil of Egypt.
Its operations are divided into six core regions of Europe and North America, Russia, Ukraine, Commonwealth of Independent States and Africa and Asia.
Online Reporter