The Kenyan government may have to inject Ksh6bn (R700m) into troubled fixed-line operator Telkom Kenya, according to Kenyan media reports. France’s Orange owns 51% of the company.
Telkom Kenya has requested a total of Ksh13,9bn (R1,6bn) from government and Orange, saying it needs the cash to pre-empt a deepening financial crisis by servicing its debt and covering its operating costs.
The company argues that if government does not assist, it will further erode the value of its stake. The Kenyan government holds a 30% stake in the company, down from 49% before a previous restructuring in 2012.
The debt the operator intends serving includes Ksh2,5bn to refinance a Kenya Commercial Bank loan, Ksh3,6bn to refinance a loan from Standard Chartered and Ksh3,3bn to refinance a bridge loan from Orange East Africa, and which must be paid by 28 June.
The operator has also requested guarantees from government and Orange to facilitate a US$117m loan it is negotiating with Standard Chartered.
In December, government was forced to participate in a restructuring that included injecting Ksh2,5bn in new shareholder loans while simultaneously writing off billions in past loans.
An editorial in the Daily Nation newspaper called for the Kenyan government to intervene in what was becoming a failed privatisation. “The government must immediately demand an audit of the books of Telkom Kenya,” the newspaper said. “It must review its options regarding its continued participation in this venture. The priority must be to protect the assets accumulated from Kenyans’ sweat. If it means buying back the company, so be it. But the existing situation is intolerable.” Source: Daily Nation
Liquid buys Rwandatel assets
Fast-growing telecommunications infrastructure firm Liquid Telecom has acquired the fixed-line assets of Rwandatel for a reported US$4m.
The deal involves Rwandatel’s copper and fibre network and its customer base, but excludes most of the land on which the equipment is installed.
The transaction comes four months after Liquid acquired the East African assets of South Africa’s Altech, including a controlling interest in Kenya Data Networks.
Liquid is controlled by Econet Wireless Global, founded by Zimbabwean telecoms tycoon Strive Masiyiwa.
Rwandatel ran into trouble in 2011 when its GSM licence was revoked by the Rwandan telecoms regulator. It was subsequently placed into liquidation.
Liquid owns more than 13 000km of fibre between Uganda and South Africa, crossing Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho.
Liquid Telecom Rwanda chairman Sam Nkusi says the company’s priority is to “quickly rehabilitate” Rwandatel’s core network and to build its own access network to better serve Rwandan business and residential customers. “Current customers can be assured of service continuity, new products and value-added services, along with improvements in network availability and performance.”
Work on network improvements and expansion is expected to start within weeks. Source: Liquid Telecom and All Africa
Googles sponsors tablet café
Google has begun an experiment with an Internet café in Dakar, Senegal that involves replacing the cafe’s desktop computers with tablet computers in an effort to make them more appealing to people who don’t normally go online.
Dubbed “TabletCafé”, Google has sponsored outlets of the Equinox chain of Internet cafés in the Dakar neighbourhood of Medina. In addition to introducing new users to the Internet, the tablets use less power than desktops or laptops, which means café owners could save money or afford faster connectivity.
The tablets are preloaded with popular applications and customers are shown how to reset the devices at the end of a session to ensure sensitive data is erased. Source: TechZim
Power boost for Uganda
Uganda is to get a trillion Ugandan shilling (R3,8bn) programme intended to add 125MW of electricity to the nation’s grid over the next five years.
The programme is being funded by Germany, Norway, the UK and the World Bank and there will be various incentives for developers of small renewable energy projects. It’s hoped the move will help keep load shedding at bay, particularly given that demand for electricity is expected to grow by 15%/year. Source: The Citizen
