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| President Kikwete On The Right Handside |
Tanzania's government is set to start talks to buy back a
stake in a state-run telecoms company from the local subsidiary of India's
Bharti Airtel, gaining full ownership of the telecoms provider, the president's
office said on Friday.
It did not say why the government would buy back the 35%
stake in Tanzania Telecommunications Corp (TTCL) from the local unit of India's
largest mobile network operator.
But the transaction will allow the east African country to
lift its 65% stake in TTCL and then seek new investors for the company, which
the government said would be in charge of managing the country's national fibre
optic network.
President Jakaya Kikwete discussed the deal with Bharti
Airtel Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal during a meeting in Dar es Salaam on
Thursday, the statement said.
Communications is the fastest-growing sector in east
Africa's second-biggest economy, with seven players in the local mobile
telecoms industry fighting for market share, forcing tariffs lower. The country
had 25.9-million fixed line and mobile phone subscribers as of September 2012,
according to the latest industry data.
Bharti Airtel Tanzania is the second-largest mobile phone
operator in the country after Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa's Vodacom
Group.
Reuters