admin“With the growth we are experiencing in our subscriber base, we are seriously considering listing on the stock market in the foreseeable future,” said chief executive officer Mr Francis Mawindi.
Mr Mawindi would, however, not give a specific date for the listing. Telecel reported in July this year that its subscriber base had hit two million up from 1,5 million in December last year.
The company said as at the end of August subscribers had reached 2,2 million and was targeting 2,7 million by year end.
Mr Mawindi said the company was looking at an additional investment of between $30 to $40 million to strengthen its financial position. “This will be channelled towards purchasing advanced equipment and development of infrastructure,” he said.
A company wishing to list on the ZSE should conform to the rules and regulations of the Listing Committee of the Exchange.
Requirements for listing include a minimum requirement of one million shares with a value of not less than $500 000 and a minimum of 30 percent of the issued equity capital being offered to the public.
Companies should also provide details of share capital structure, loan capital and borrowing powers, a report by auditors for the last five financial years as well as forecast earnings and dividends.
In terms of subscriber base, Telecel trails Econet Wireless, which has over 7 million subscribers.
A subsidiary of Egyptian telecoms giant, Orascom, Telecel has come under fire for being slow in regularising its shareholding structure, which is heavily skewed in favour of foreigners.
Telecel International has a 60 percent stake, while the Empowerment Corporation, a local consortium of individuals and groups, owns 40 percent.
Meanwhile, Mr Mawindi said Telecel was targeting to increase its subscriber base to 2,7 million from 2,2 million by the end of the year. “We are going to have 2,7 million active subscribers by the end of this year. This figure implies subscribers who have direct contribution to the revenue inflows of Telecel,” he said.
Mr Mawindi said Telecel was focusing on consolidating its position locally to be able to provide fast network among other affordable services.
He said the company was well capitalised for the expansion through the injection of a $70 million capital investment.
“By the end of the year we expect to have completed the installation of base stations at more than 200 new sites, bringing to more than 575 the number of base station sites we have altogether,” Mawindi said.
Completing installation of the base stations would mean that 85 percent of the country’s population would be able to access Telecel’s network by year end, he said.
Mr Mawindi said in order to ensure reliable and continuously available network, base stations were being located close to sources of electric power and were equipped with back-up batteries and generators.
“This will minimise any disruption of service due to power failures or load shedding.
“We are also putting in back-up transmission links, so that, if a link fails, the standby link can be used, thus minimising any downtime and facilitating continuous network availability,” he said.—New Ziana.
Online Reporter