Malawi prepares for fourth mobile licence; but still to announce winner of third

Applications for Malawi’s fourth mobile licence are being accepted until July 25, even though the third licence auctioned in March is yet to be awarded.

Celtel Malawi’s handset prices dropped to US$18 after the government removed customs and excise duties on imported phones.

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) received five bids for the third licence to join the existing operators Celtel Malawi and Telkom Networks Malawi (TNM).

The uncertainty of the situation raises concerns for the known bidders of the third licence – Malcom, Megatel Communications, Globally Integrated Networks, Econet Wireless and US-based Millenium Global Telecom – which without knowledge of the outcome of the third licence, may be unsure of their strategy for the fourth.

MACRA advised it will grant licences for the third and fourth mobile network operators as soon as the government appoints a new board of directors for the regulator, after the dissolution of the previous one.

Meanwhile current market leader Celtel announced it had dropped handset prices by 35 per cent, reducing the price of its subsidised ZTE A61 dual-band GSM handset from K3900 (US$28) to K2499.

Celtel Malawi’s acting commercial director, Saulos Chilima said the operator had invested K90 million in the initiative and that the cellco’s pricing structure had also been revised.

Earlier in June, the country’s finance minister Goodall Gondwe declared the removal of a 25 per cent customs and excise duty on imported mobile phone handsets. However the government did introduce in its place a 10 per cent domestic excise tax on airtime.

Celtel Malawi also publicised its plans to invest US$90 million over the 2008/09 financial year in upgrading its network and extending coverage to all parts of the country.

The mobile penetration rate of Malawi is around 10 per cent of the 14 million residents, with Celtel announcing they had reached one million subscribers last week.