Privatization of Angola Telecom to be accomplished in 2019

The process of privatization of Angola Telecom will start in 2019, and the process of evaluating the assets of the company is underway, as revealed by the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, José Carvalho da Rocha.

He emphasizes the fact that the assets continue to be valued, since the State made investments in the company. It has an information system capable of managing business. There is appreciation here. There have also been investments and new platforms, which allow a current valuation. The minister said that the issue of officials will be safeguarded, and it is not being an easy process, but we will carry out and safeguard all the objectives outlined.

Without specifying the amount to be collected with the privatization of the company, since internal work is being done that will determine the value, the official said that the fundamental issue is not a value that the State will raise, but that it can attract an investor who complies with the requirements of the global license that the company already has.

Asked about the fact that Angola Telecom does not benefit from the return of the amount invested in the shareholding where it represents the state in a consortium with Angola Cables, the minister said it is not easy to develop a business of such size that is being developed by Angola Cables. He also said that it is a consortium of several companies, where the State, through Angola - Telecom, represents 51 percent.

The official also said that another project is being developed, which is the link between Angola and Brazil, 100 percent assumed by Angola Cables and also in association with Google and two other companies in South America, in the construction of the cable between Miami of America) and Brazil. According to him, traffic in South American countries to Asia necessarily passes through Brazil, USA, London and Middle East and only then reaches the destination.

On the other hand, José Carvalho da Rocha confirmed the entry of a new telephone operator in the market. There will actually be one more global operator, besides Angola - Telecom, which already has a license to provide mobile telephony services.

Regarding Angosat-2, José Carvalho da Rocha said that the satellite is currently being built in France and should be in orbit in 2021. Besides the satellite, the country will have others in orbit in several areas of knowledge. However, 60 Angolan technicians, from graduates, masters and PhDs in different permanent teams, accompany the construction project of Angosat- 2.

Angosat- 2 is being built by Airbus in France. After completing the construction phase, it is moved to Russia, in this case in Kazakhstan, for launch in orbit.

With inputs from agency.