Lap Green pays for Rwandatel shares

Lap Green Networks has paid Government $50 million as partial payment for the 80 per cent shares in Rwandatel. This initial payment paves way for the company to takeover Rwandatel, probably on November 20. The Lap Green negotiating team told government they would clear the remaining $50 million, by 2009. During the bidding process, the company agreed to pay $100 million (about Frw54.5 billion) for the 80 per cent shares in Rwandatel. To have a local investor to represent Rwandan’s interests in Rwandatel, Government sold a 20 per cent stake to the Social Security Fund. “We are serious investors. We are taking over the company on November 20. We are to sign other agreements with government to allow us invest in new technology.” Lap Green’s Abdulbaset Y.Elazzabi said in a phone interview with The New Times from Libya on Friday. Lap Green is owned by Libya Africa Investments Portfolio for Africa, a consortium set up to reorganise the interests of the Libyan government on the African continent. The company promises to invest $317 million (about Frw 172 billion) to revamp the telecom sector in the country. It promised to invest in a vibrant network that will hook 2 million subscribers in GSM, 3G, fixed network and information technology. The firm also promised to scrap cross-border roaming fee on calls between users in Uganda and Rwanda. The company with a 69 per cent stake in UTL, promised to make calls affordable to every Rwandan and have the fastest and biggest countrywide rollout. The company takes over Terracom’s second generation technology called CDMA described by communication experts as quite inferior to a third generation GSM technology. CDMA is an acronym for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques. On the other hand GSM is the Global System for Mobile communications. But Lap Green has also promised to operate the most popular the GSM. Ends