KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda has returned a majority stake in Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) to its Libyan shareholders after seizing it early last year as part of sanctions on former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Libyan state-owned LAP Green said its 69 percent stake in UTL had been reinstated to its UCOM unit.
Gaddafi was deposed and later killed by rebel fighters in October last year.
“Shareholders and directors of its wholly owned subsidiary UCOM … have now resumed their management control responsibilities of Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL),” LAP Green said in a statement.
Although initially a dominant player, telecom analysts say UTL’s performance in both data and voice markets has declined over the years as it faces aggressive competition from Airtel, owned by India’s Bharti Airtel, and MTN Uganda, a unit of South Africa’s MTN Group.
