The government of Zimbabwe is considering a plan to ‘warehouse’ the legacy debt of state-owned fixed line operator TelOne in order to ease its financial situation and make it more attractive to outside partners. TelOne was saddled with a USD360 million debt when it was created following the split of the Postal and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) in 2000, and it has struggled since then with interest payments. Its total debt stood at USD374 million as of October 2017, according to a report from The Independent.
Minister of Information and Communication Technology Supa Mandiwanzira says the government is looking to ease the debt burden of a number of parastatal companies to enable them to get back on their feet financially and put them in a position where they can eventually pay off the amount owed in full. He says that TelOne has been the only state-owned firm so far which has demonstrated its ability to redeem its debt in the future.
Zimbabwe,TelOne, Corporate/Financial, Wireline, Broadband
