MTN Uganda is destined to widen its local shareholding by selling a stake of its shares to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Following a meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and MTN Group Chief Executive Officer Robert Shuter, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it is likely that a deal that reached to this was made.
The company has been striving to renew her license for another decade, after the 20-year permit issued in 1998 expired. It is certain that if a deal has been reached, the renewal has been granted as well.
In the midst of application for the new license, there was a lot to negotiate about and this prompted UCC to grant the telco a 2-month temporary permit with effect from November 20th 2018, thus expiring on 20th January this year.
Reports indicate that the temporary permit was to allow President Museveni to review and verify the granting of the license at $58 million for 10 years, an amount that the president found to be so distant from the initial $100 million required of the company.
Among the terms put across in the negotiation included listing the telecom company on the Uganda securities exchange market, as well as having a nationwide 4G coverage.
Thus, within 12 months after license renewal, MTN Uganda will have their IPO and become 30% locally owned; and also invest in network upgrade to ensure that all villages of Uganda have uniform access to the 4mbps speed internet.
MTN Uganda will have a lot to clean up after receiving the new license. The company is facing trouble after its top executives were deported over allegations that police labelled as national security threats.
That’s not all. In the past few months, President Museveni has expressed his anger with MTN Uganda’s profit repatriation, which he says is limiting the development of the country. To this, he adds the under declaration of their returns to the revenue authorities which pose a big hindrance to the economy.
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