Thursday, March 4, 2010

Malawi Threatens to Withdraw G-Mobiles Licence

South Africa's Beryl Telecoms has reportedly engaged Telkom SA to take over the management of the Malawi's delayed 3rd mobile network operator, G-Mobile. The operator itself is under threat of losing its license if it doesn't launch its network by the 12th April.

Beryl Capital and Telecoms was contracted last year to manage the roll out of its network, which was due to have been completed at the end of last year. When G-Mobile was awarded its license last April, it said that it was expected to invest US$40 million in the venture within the first five years of operations.

G-Mobile conceded that the new deadline is very tight, raising fears that the company could dissolve even before rolling out its services.

According to statistics from the Mobile World analysts, the country ended last year with just under 2.6 million customers, which represents a population penetration level of around 18%. The country has two active mobile networks, Zain and Telecom Networks Malawi.

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