15 May 2023
Tmcel is on the verge of bankruptcy, according to Mateus Magala, minister of transport and communications.
Magala says that it was necessary to implement immediate and urgent measures to save the company. Possible measures include the sale of more than 80% of Tmcel's assets, downsizing and the assumption of debt by the state. This should help attract a strategic partner to help turn around the business.
Created in January 2019 from the merger of Telecomunicações de Moçambique and Mozambique Cellular, the company is facing cash flow problems. Between 2017 and 2021, it saw its mobile subscriber base drop by 69% to around 2 million, according to data from the Mozambique Communications Regulatory Authority (INCM).
In addition, Tmcel has accumulated arrears in salary payments and a mounting debt of more than $400 million. A report published in 2022 by the Center for Public Integrity (CIP) indicates that the company had ended the year 2021 in technical bankruptcy. At the beginning of April 2023, the government had to entrust the management of the company to the Institute for the Management of State Funds (IGEPE), pending the establishment of a management commission responsible for its restructuring.
