Tanzania to get $26mln from India’s Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel, the Indian global telecommunications services company has agreed to pay 60 billion shillings (USD 26 million) to its Airtel Tanzania unit over a period of five years. The telecom brand has also agreed to cancel the debt to resolve a dispute over ownership of its Airtel Tanzania unit, the Tanzanian government said on Monday.

The deal has been declared by Palamagamba Kabudi, Tanzania`s minister for foreign affairs and east Africa cooperation. Kabudi made the announcement at a ceremony to receive a three-month batch of monthly payments worth 1 billion shillings each due from April 2019.

According to Kabudi, Bharti Airtel also cancelled USD 407 million of debt owed to it by Airtel Tanzania as part of the settlement. The Indian global telecommunications services company was pulled into a dispute in 2017 with Dar es Salaam over ownership of the mobile operator after country’s President John Magufuli cited it was fully owned by state-run Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd.

He said Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd. had been cheated out of its shares through an irregular privatisation process. Bharti Airtel rejected the claim, saying it had complied with regulatory approvals when it acquired a 60 percent stake in the firm.

Bharti Airtel will also give the East African country USD 1 million to support development projects, Gerson Msigwa, President John Magufuli’s communications director cited earlier Monday in an emailed statement.

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