Subscribe

Zambia's fourth mobile licence suspended

By Michael Malakata, ITWeb’s Zambian correspondent.
Johannesburg, 07 Feb 2012

Zambia's government has reversed an earlier decision to grant a fourth mobile licence, as it awaits the outcome of a court case regarding the sale of Zamtel, according to the country's minister of transport, works, supply and communication, Yamfwa Mukanga.

Libya's Lap Green Networks last week sued Zambia's government for the takeover of Lap's 75% shares in Zamtel last year.

“We are not issuing any fourth mobile licence for now until the issue of Zamtel is resolved,” Mukanga told ITWeb yesterday.

Airtel, Zamtel, and MTN Group subsidiary MTN Zambia are the only three operators currently operating in Zambia.

Local company Unitel Communication, in partnership with Vodacom SA, had been awarded a licence over five years ago to operate in Zambia as Vodacom Zambia. However, Zambia's previous administration suspended the issuance of a fourth mobile licence in 2010, when Zamtel was being sold to Lap Green Networks.

Dora Siliya, the minister in charge of communication and transport at the time, said the decision to suspend the fourth licence would last until 2015 so as to protect Lap Green Networks from competition.

However, when Zambia's newly elected government took power last year, it decided to open up the licence again. And now that the current administration has suspended the licence for a second time, Vodacom Zambia chairman Enoch Kavindele said he has written to president Michael Sata asking him to reverse the government's decision.

Share