Roshan majority shareholder to launch mobile network in East Africa

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the majority shareholder in mobile operator Roshan in Afghanistan, is set to launch a mobile operator in East Africa early in 2013, a reliable source confirmed to Comm.

AKFED is an international development agency dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and building economically sound enterprises in the developing world. The fund operates as a network of affiliates with more than 90 separate project companies employing over 30,000 people, with revenues of US$2.3 billion in 2010. It is active in 16 countries in the developing world: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Senegal, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Uganda.

“Given AKFED’s presence in a number of activities in East Africa, ranging from hospitality, retail, and financial services, the fund has been able to attain a mobile licence in an East African country, which it intends to activate in the January/February 2013 time-frame,” the informed source said.

With commercial activities in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania the mobile licence is set to have been awarded in one of these three countries, with AKFED being confident it will be able to leverage its local contacts and networks in other industries in order to succeed in an ‘ultra-competitive’ telecom market.