Uganda Telecommunications Limited

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In 1999, the Uganda Government sold a 51% stake in Uganda Telecommunications Limited (UTL) to the U-com consortium which won with a bid of US$33.52 million against two other competitors. The sale was part of the government efforts to divest the telecom sector which involved the division of Uganda Post and Telecom into three private businesses, the creation of an independent regulator for the sector, and the licensing of a second national operator (awarded to MTN Uganda in 1998). U-com was initially comprised of DeTeCon International (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom), which held 40%, Telecel International (40%) and South African firm Ikwezi (20%). Ikwezi later withdrew from the consortium and was replaced by the Egyptian conglomerate, Orascom Telecom, which had also acquired an 80% stake in Telecel earlier in 2000. OT subsequently announced in late 2002 that it intended to sell the 20% UTL stake it had originally acquired from Ikwezi to Telecel. In May 2003, OT announced that its stake in Telecel had been sold to Gloria Trust, a previous minority shareholder in Telecel, as part of a complex deal along with other African GSM operators. By 2005, UTL was jointly owned by DeTeCon (20.4%), Gloria Trust (30.6%) and the Ugandan government (49%). The terms of the tender included the installation of 100,000 fixed telephone lines within five years. In September 2003, UTL launched a corporate bond on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The five-year bond was part of the operator's Medium-Term Note Programme that was to be issued to invest in the roll-out of infrastructure, particularly its GSM network and in rural areas. With a total value of Ush54bn (US$27 million), a first tranche of the programme valued at Ush24bn was offered to investors and the company had hoped that the remaining Ush30bn would be taken up by July 2004. By 2005, the government of Uganda was condiering divesting its remaining 49% stake in UTL through an IPO. UTL Telecel's mobile unit (branded 'Mango') had rolled out its infrastructure and increased subscribers from 130,000 in December 2002 to 460,000 by end 2005. UTL also had 90,000 subscribers on its fixed-line network. A total of about US$150 million worth of investment had reportedly been injected in UTL since its inception in 2000. In April 2007, Libya Africa Portfolio (LAP) Green Com bought the 51% stake U-com consortium held in Uganda Telecommunications Ltd (UTL). In addition the government of Uganda sold another 18% stake of Uganda Telecommunications Ltd (UTL) to Libya Africa Portfolio (LAP) Green Com. Detecon sold its interests to Telecel International. The new shareholding structure left the Ugandan government with a 31% ownership while Ucom's shareholding increased to 69%. As of June 2011, this was still the case. The government took control of all Libyan assets in November 2011 following UN sanctions. Management and control was restored to LAP Green by May 2012. Project may be distressed following unrest in Libya (Qadaffi ousting). LAP's assets frozen. Please check. 23 January 2006 15:06 All Africa English (c) 2006 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved Kampala, Jan 23, 2006 (The Monitor/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- UGANDA Telecom Ltd (UTL), one of Uganda's three telecommunications operators, has so far invested $150m (Shs273.7b) since inception five years ago. Speaking to the Daily Monitor, at the firm's offices at Rwenzori Courts in Kampala on January 20, UTL's Marketing Manager Hans Paulsen, has said the expenditure includes all recently installed modern telecom technologies under telesaver plus, data and information.. "A total of about $150m investment has so far been injected in UTL since its inception in 2000," Paulsen said, adding that the investment includes company operations, expansion programmes, marketing, installation of landline and mobile satellite technology. Source of 2007: http://www.utl.co.ug