Gov’t To Take Charge Of Airtel Tigo

Indian telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel has announced that it is nearing conclusion to lease its share in AirtelTigo Ghana to the government.

Bharti Airtel in a statement said: “The parties are in advance stages of discussions for conclusion of the commercial agreement for the transfer of AirtelTigo on a going concern basis to the government of Ghana.”

This will see the Indian firm receiving about $25 million as impairment charge for the transaction.

“Accordingly, Airtel is voluntarily taking an impairment charge of Rs 1,841 million (Rs 184 crore),” the statement added.

AirtelTigo is a joint venture between ‘Airtel’ and ‘Millicom’ wherein Airtel holds a non-controlling 49.95% share in AirtelTigo.

Airtel had merged its Ghana operations with Millicom in 2017, resulting in the second largest mobile carrier in Ghana.

The merger was approved by the regulator subject to the condition that the Ghana government will have the option to pick up a stake in the new entity in future.