A new framework for the licensing of telecommunications companies came into force in Uganda in 2018. Airtel must comply as soon as possible or risk incurring the wrath of the authorities. Its competitor MTN has been in good standing since December 2021.
The mobile operator Airtel Uganda will enter the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), the local stock exchange, “ most likely by December 2022 ”, revealed Manoj Murali, the managing director of the Indian subsidiary. Bharti Airtel on the antennas of the local television channel NTV Uganda, Monday, March 7. The company will join MTN as the second telecommunications company to be listed on the USE.
It has already been nearly four months since part of the capital of MTN Uganda was introduced on the stock exchange. During the operation, the subsidiary of the South African telecoms group MTN had offered 4.47 billion ordinary shares at a unit price of 200 Ugandan shillings ($0.057). The company ultimately raised 535,939,900,000 Ugandan shillings ($152 million) during its initial public offering (IPO) held from October 11 to November 22, 2021. Its official listing on the USE occurred on December 6.
Airtel Kenya’s plan to open capital on the stock market is part of the new telecom regulatory framework introduced by the Ugandan government in 2018. It provides that each telecom operator wishing to operate on the national territory will have to introduce 20% of its capital on the National Stock Exchange no later than two years after obtaining its operating license. Airtel obtained its national telecom license in December 2020 for 74.6 million USD.
Aware that it must comply before the end of 2022, the telecom company had already announced last January that “ discussions are underway internally ” on the subject. As part of its IPO, Airtel Uganda will have to publish, among other details, the price of shares to be sold, the process of acquisition by local investors, the timetable for the entire IPO operation.