Friday, July 24, 2009

Zimbabwe's Telecel Denies Sale To MTN, Confirms Expansion Plans

Struggling Zimbabwean mobile operator Telecel has confirmed that it is going ahead with a USD40 million network expansion programme, local paper The Herald reported yesterday, quoting the company's acting managing director, Rex Chibesa.

Telecel, majority owned by Egypt's Orascom Telecom, is aiming to sign up around one million subscribers by year-end, up from its current total of 350,000. The newspaper said that funding for the project was coming directly from Orascom, which has dispatched technicians to Harare to work on the first phase of the network project which is expected to be completed by September, in partnership with equipment providers Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies.

The country's smallest cellco, which is 49% owned by local investors, has also indicated that it is not prepared to sell part of the company to a foreign investor, denying recent reports that MTN of South Africa could be lining up a takeover bid.

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