Zambia accepts Altimo's Zamtel bid

The Zambia Privatization Agency (ZDA) has accepted a new and fourth bid from Russian telecommunications operator Altimo for pre-qualification in the process to privatise Zambia Telecommunication Limited (Zamtel). The first three bids were received from India's BSNL, Lap Green Networks of Libya and Unitel of Angola on 23 December 2009. The fourth bid from Altimo was received five minutes after the submission deadline of 15:00hrs. Because it was received after the deadline, the ZDA did not open the submission, and indicated that it would call a board meeting to decide whether or not to accept the submission from Altimo. Altimo had sent its submission on time but it arrived at the ZDA five minutes after the submission deadline due to logistical reasons. The ZDA Board at a special meeting held on 30 December 2009 resolved to accept the submission from Altimo on grounds that it was received before the other bids were opened and that no evaluation of the other three bids had been undertaken. He added that the Altimo bid would be included in the assessment of bids because this round of bid was only indicative and not binding and that consequently ZDA would open the Altimo bid. Shortlisted companies and consortia will be invited to the next stage of the privatisation of Zamtel. They will be invited to conduct further due diligence on Zamtel, and will be asked to submit a binding bid for a majority equity stake in the company. The next phase of Zamtel privatisation and details on the indicative bids received will be announced on 11 January.