TIRANA, Albania-Albania initiated the country’s largest privatization project so far by inviting foreign investors to bid for a majority stake in state mobile phone monopoly Albanian Mobile Communications Sh.A., Reuters reported.
The Privatization Ministry said it was prepared to sell between 51 percent and 85 percent of the firm to strategic investors active in telecommunications.
Bidders should have paid-up capital of at least $50 million and a consolidated net value of at least $100 million, the ministry said. The remaining 15 percent of the shares will be offered to other interested parties, such as AMC’s employees, said the news report.
AMC began offering its Global System for Mobile communications service in 1996 and now covers 25 percent of Albania, reaching approximately 50 percent of the population. It has a capacity of 8,000 clients.
Officials declined to say which foreign companies have expressed interest in the AMC stake, but companies with experience in Albania include Alcatel and L.M. Ericsson, which offered to finance an $800,000 project to extend GSM coverage to the northern Albanian town of Kukes, the focus of the refugee relief operation during the Kosovo conflict this spring, said Reuters.
AMC’s network was stretched to its breaking point during the Kosovo conflict with the surge of demand from foreign-aid workers and journalists, said the news report.
