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MTNL may bid for Rwanda Telecom
By siliconindia staff writer
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Tuesday, 08 June 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: State-owned MTNL is likely to bid for Rwanda Telecom, which is being put on the block by the African country.
The company has already got the board approval to bid for the stake of Rwanda Telecom for which the government of Rwanda has called for global bidding. "We have also received an in-principle nod to get it evaluated," senior officials said.
"We are getting it evaluated internally. The due diligence is on", they added.
The Government of Rwanda is planning to divest between 51-100 per cent stake in the entity that has 25,000 fixed line connection network.
The winner of the bidders will also be given a free mobile network licence to operate in the country, they said.
Indian private telecom operators may not be eligible for the bidding as the eligibility criteria wants the operator to be a fixed line provider for a minimum five years.
If successful in acquiring a controlling or the 100 per cent stake in Rwanda Telecom, this would be MTNL's first acquisition abroad where it would be an operator.
So far, the PSU has bagged licences in Mauritius and Nepal and is awaiting for a licence in Kenya.