Tanzania claims India’s Bharti Airtel’s local unit

Bloomberg

Tanzania said Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s local unit belongs to state-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Co., a claim that sets up an ownership dispute between the government and the Indian phone operator.
“Airtel, according to the information we have,” is an asset of Tanzania Telecommunications Co., President John Magufuli said on the East African country’s national broadcaster, TBC. “A terrible game was played. I don’t want to say more than that.”
The president asked Finance Minister Philip Mpango to follow up on the claim. His comments follow a 2016 order for telecommunications companies to sell at least a quarter of their units on the local bourse to boost domestic ownership. Airtel has yet to list Airtel Tanzania, in which the government has a 40 percent stake. The company is the country’s third-largest wireless carrier, with 10.6 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel is increasingly reliant on international operations after a price war in its home market has led to a profit slump. The company agreed to buy the Tigo-branded operations of Millicom International Cellular SA in Rwanda.