Africa-Press – Angola. The Government admits the future possibility of privatizing the telecommunications operator Unitel, whose nationalization, in October, aimed to protect public interests in that strategic asset, said, this Friday, in Oslo, Norway, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas .
Diamantino Pedro Azevedo was answering questions from journalists at the end of the two-day State visit, carried out by President João Lourenço to Norway.
In the case of Sonangol’s ministerial supervisory body, Unitel’s shareholder, the minister referred that the nationalization also aimed to give greater stability to the company and guarantee its efficient functioning, in order for it to fulfill all its business functions.
“The nationalization of the Angolan telephone operator Unitel aimed only at protecting a strategic asset for the State”, he said.
According to the official, “if the State decides to sell these shares, of course it will always do so, as I said, with the intention of having more stability, more efficiency, and will certainly use the country’s specialized and legal institutions for its alienation, as is the case of the public tender”.
In October of this year, the Angolan State, through a presidential decree, took 50 percent of the shares of the operator Unitel, held in equal 25 percent by the then partners Isabel dos Santos and Leopoldino do Nascimento, through the companies Vidatel and Gene, respectively.
Nationalization or nationalization is the term given to the establishment of state ownership and control over a company, service or activity hitherto under private domain or with relevant participation.
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