21 July 2021

Vodacom Mozambique has reached an agreement with state-owned Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel) over the ongoing US$10m) interconnection debt dispute.

In June this year, the former  threatened to cancel its interconnection agreement with Tmcel which would have prevented the latter's customers from being able to call Vodacom numbers.

Vodacom said Tmcel had failed to settle the debt and honour the interconnection agreement between the two companies.

The country’s telecommunications industry regulator, the Mozambique National Communications Institute (INCM), which stepped in to referee, said Tmcel has agreed to immediately pay a third of the debt and thereafter pay US$190,000 a month.

Under the terms of the deal, Tmcel will continue to make monthly payments in the amount of 12 million meticais for interconnection bills, which will increase if it is unable to keep its current bills below 12 million meticais.