Uganda to telecoms firms: you need to list to get a licence
Kampala — Uganda will introduce a requirement for all telecoms firms to list shares on the local bourse as a condition for obtaining a licence to operate in the country, a government statement said on Tuesday. The statement on resolutions agreed at a cabinet meeting said the move would "help mitigate capital flight, among other benefits". Outlining a series of changes for the telecoms industry, the statement also said the cabinet agreed at a meeting on Monday to renew the operating licence of the local unit of South African telecom company MTN Group. However, it was not immediately clear whether that was conditional on the new requirements for operators. The new policy will also bar operators from selling their allocated spectrum in any merger or acquisition deal. "No operator whenever selling its stake through ‘mergers and acquisitions’ should ever have a claim on spectrum," the statement said, adding the measure was to preclude the hoarding of spectrum by some operators. Under the...
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