Five Companies Bid for Malawi Mobile License

Malawi's telecoms regulator, Macra has announced in a statement that five companies have applied for the country's third mobile operator license. Three of the bids came from local firms, while the other two came from South Africa's Econet Wireless and USA-based Millennium Global Telecom.

"Out of the 11 companies that obtained bidding documents, only five submitted their applications. Macra will be evaluating the submissions," the regulator said in a statement.

The Mobile World subscriber database estimates that Malawi ended last year with around 534,000 subscribers - representing a population penetration level of just over 4%. Celtel is the market leader with two-thirds of the customer base, with Telecom Networks Malawi taking the remainder.