Zimbabwe govt completes Telecel takeover

Zimbabwe has completed the $40 million purchase of a 60 percent stake in mobile telecoms operator Telecel from Vimpelcom, the communications minister said on Monday.

Vimpelcom announced in November it had agreed to sell to the government its shares in the southern African nation’s smallest mobile telephone company.

Information Communications Technology Minister Supa Mandiwanzira told a committee of parliament the government had raised the $40 million from National Social Security Authority (NSSA), a state-run national pension fund.

The investment in Telecel was done through little known government-owned internet service provider ZARNet.

Telecel’s remaining 40 percent is owned by Empowerment Corporation, a group of local shareholders who have also approached NSSA to buy their shares, Mandiwanzira said. Reuters