The government of Guinea-Bissau is reportedly reviving plans to divest stakes in state-owned Guine Telecom and Guinetel.
As reported by news agency Lusa, the country’s Ministry of Transport and Communications revealed the details in an announcement regarding the country’s privatisation plans. The government owns 80% of Guine Telecom and an indirect 80% stake in Guinetel.
In 2013, Guinea-Bissau’s government declared fixed-line monopoly holder Guine Telecom (Companhia de Telecomunicacoes da Guine-Bissau) and its mobile arm Guinetel to be bankrupt, and the firms were effectively shuttered.
In September 2021, we reported that both units had been issued with operating licences and were on track to be resurrected. Guinetel’s licence was awarded by regulator ARN (Autoridade Reguladora Nacional das Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao / National Regulatory Authority of Information and Communication Technologies), while Guine Telecom’s Single Individual Licence was issued by the country’s Communication Minister Augusto Gomes.
Gomes said at the time that allowing Guine Telecom to resume operations was due to “the state’s desire for sovereignty in telecommunications, particularly concerning the security of communications and national data.”
