Uganda Takes Over Libyan-Owned UTL

The Ugandan government has taken over management of troubled Libyan-owned telecommunications company, Uganda Telecom Ltd. (UTL), Uganda's minister of information and communications technology said Tuesday.

As a regulator and a minority shareholder in Uganda Telcom, the government has decided to take over management of the company to safeguard its interests and the interests of its customers, Aggrey Awori said in a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

"We cannot sit and watch as things get out of hand," he said.

The Libyan Arab Portfolio, or LAP Green Network, holds a controlling stake in Uganda Telecom.

According to Awori, the move is part of government's decision to implement the United Nations-initiated sanctions against Libya. Last week, the Ugandan central bank took over Libya-owned Tropical African Bank.

Uganda Telecom has been struggling to meet payment obligations to other Ugandan telecom companies arising from interconnection fees. A company spokesman couldn't return calls seeking comment immediately.

Earlier this month, MTN Uganda--a unit of Johannesburg-listed MTN Group Ltd. threatened to block calls to Uganda Telecom over a 20 billion Ugandan shillings ($8.3 million) unpaid interconnection fees that have accumulated over a three-year period.

Airtel Uganda Ltd. also claims that Uganda Telecom owes it UGX8 billion in interconnection fees and had also threatened to terminate calls to the network. Airtel Uganda Ltd. is a unit of India-based Bharti Airtel Ltd.

However, government has prevailed upon the two companies from blocking calls to Uganda Telecom, to avoid inconveniencing the public. People familiar with the situation say that the two companies were now planning to attach some of the properties belonging to Uganda Telecom.

Attachment is a legal process by which a court of law, at the request of a creditor, designates specific property owned by the debtor to be transferred to the creditor, or sold for the benefit of the creditor.

Uganda's foreign affairs minister announced last week that government would freeze Libyan assets worth $375 million; other Libyan-owned companies that have been affected by the sanctions include Tamoil East Africa, National & Housing Construction Company, Laico Lake Victoria Hotel and Libya Oil. 

-Dow Jones Newswires

LAP To Launch In Sierra Leone This April

GreenN Sierra Leone, a subsidiary of LAP Green Network, itself 100% owned by Libyan government-owned investment vehicle Libyan Africa Portfolio (LAP), will launch commercial operations in Sierra Leone’s wireless market in April this year, local newspaper Awoko reports.


Earlier this week Information and Communications Minister Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo made the first official call over the company’s GSM network to President Koroma. The minister said that GreenN Sierra Leone is part of efforts to strengthen the bilateral ties between Sierra Leone and Libya. 


According to GreenN Sierra Leone’s CEO, Elmabruk S. Elgembari, the company plans to invest USD50 million in the next three years, adding that the operator has so far constructed a total of 128 cell sites, including 42 in the provinces. 


The CEO also revealed that GreenN will provide quality and affordable voice, data and internet services. As well as Sierra Leone, LAP holds telecoms licences in six other African countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Niger, Ivory Coast and Togo.

Rwandatel Subscribers Hit 280K Mark

Rwandatel, the second national telecom operator has currently hit 280,000 subscribers, the company's Public Relations Manager, Cleophas Kabasiita has said.

Kabasiita told Business Times that, "The company has hit 280,000 active subscribers to date and the company will be rolling out more products, which are in transit and they will be on the market very soon in order to attract more clients," Kabasiita said.

Rwandatel which was officially launched last December has a target of 600,000 subscribers by the end of this year.

Kabasiita also said that the company has been beefing up its human resource base and optimising the network.

The company officials also attributed the increasing number of subscribers to better network and service delivery to the unexpected number of subscribers within its infancy of operations.

"This is the reason why our subscribers have been increasing very first, our network is very good and our customers are experiencing less and less dropped calls," She added.

Rwandatel is the Second National Operator (SNO) in the country after MTN-Rwanda.

TIGO which is owned by the Luxemburg based Millicom International has also received an operating licence and is yet to go commercial by the end of this year.

Kabasiita stated that Rwandatel is not worried of the prevailing competition and that is bent on providing its subscribers with the best network and competitive prices.

The company is the only mobile operator in Rwanda offering all range of Information Communication Technology (ICT) services, including GSM, CDMA and 3G mobile services.

Rwandatel is owned by Libyan African Portfolio (LAP) Green, the company purchased 80 per cent shares and promised to invest $317m (Rfw173b) over 15 years period to revamp the telecom sector in the country.