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Mozambique says to licence 3rd mobile operator

‘There is a market, at the moment we are just putting the bidding documents together, we hope to launch an international tender before June 20, 2009’, Paulo Zucula told Reuters in an interview.

Two mobile phone firms already operate networks in Mozambique-state-controlled mCel and South Africa’s Vodacom, in which Vodafone is buying a majority stake.

Vodacom Mozambique has about 1.3 million subscribers, after paying about $15 million for a licence to enter the country five yeas ago. mCel, which was established in 1997, says it has 3.5 million clients.

‘There are 20 million people in Mozambique and only a fraction has access to the mobile phone network, so there is too much space for growth and I’m sure that any company that would get the new license will flourish soon,’ Zucula said.

Zucula said the government has given approval for the regulator, the Institute of Mozambique Telecommunications, INCM, to propose legislation for a third licence.

Pan-African operators such as South Africa’s MTN or Kuwait’s Zain might be interested in entering Mozambique, or possibly a European or Asian operator keen to expand into relatively untapped African markets.