Bissau, July 19, 2024 (Lusa) - The chairman of Guinea-Telecom, João António Mendes, told Lusa on Friday that the state has decided to sell 80% of the capital of Guinetel, the national mobile network, and has launched an international tender.
António Mendes said the state initially intended to sell the shares of Guinea-Telecom (fixed network) and Guinetel, but over time the strategy was changed to selling only the mobile network, leaving the state with 20%, which it will make available to national shareholders.
According to Mendes, Portugal Telecom Investimentos Internacionais represented the interests of Portugal Telecom and Guinetel, holding % of the shares from 2004 until 2010, when the Portuguese company decided to leave the shareholder body of the two Guinean companies.
From then on, the two companies, now owned solely by the Guinean state, were managed by local executives and in 2014 the ‘technical bankruptcy’ of both companies began, said Guinea-Telecom's CEO.
At first, explained António Mendes, the Guinean government decided to sell the shares in Guinea-Telecom and Guinetel, but with the advice of international institutions, it backed down.
‘At the beginning, the state is going to keep 20% which will be made available so that national players, institutions or private individuals, in this case individual private individuals, can enter Guinetel's capital as shareholders,’ he explained.
Guinea-Telecom's CEO said the preconditions for an international public tender to select a future company to hold 80% of Guinetel have been launched. In the first week of August, the companies that meet ‘the conditions required to participate in the tender’ will be known.
Several companies, investment funds and intermediaries have expressed interest in acquiring Guinetel, said António Mendes, noting that a Portuguese company, whose name he couldn't remember, had acquired the application dossier for the pre-selection.
Guinea-Telecom's CEO could not specify the exact number of mobile phone users in Guinea-Bissau, but said it was over a million. However, he had no doubts about needing a third operator to ‘end polarisation’.
António Mendes stressed that ‘it's no secret to anyone’ that with a third operator, starting with the resumption of the licence held by Guinetel, mobile network services in Guinea-Bissau will improve and current tariffs will be lowered.
With Portugal Telecom's departure from Guinea-Bissau, the mobile phone network and internet service are now operated by the French company Orange and the South African company MTN.
MB/ADB // ADB.
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