New telco to invest USD56 million

Access Communications, Malawi’s newly authorised fixed line provider, intends to invest MWK7.8 billion (USD56 million) in infrastructure development during its 15-year licence period, a Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) official has said. ‘Access Communications intends to build up its own infrastructure as well as utilise possibilities of infrastructure sharing with existing operators in places where the infrastructure and capacity is readily available,’ said Lloyd Momba, Deputy Director of MACRA’s Spectrum Department, adding that negotiations over the finer points of Access’s licence were expected to take place in the next three months, including the date by which services are expected to be launched. MACRA issued a licence to Access as the countries second national operator to provide fixed telephony on 25 May 2007. TeleGeography estimates that at the end of 2006, Malawi had just 113,000 fixed lines in operation, all provided by incumbent Malawi Telecommunications Ltd (MTL).