The Malawi government announced Wednesday that it had finally devolved ownership of the country's sole fixed telephone operator to an investment consortium, Telecom Holdings Limited (THL), after a protracted delay of the sale.

Malawi's Privatization Commission (PC) disclosed in a statement that the controversial sale of state owned Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) had now been finalized following a recent court ruling allowing government to proceed with the sale.

Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday vacated an injunction on the sale that was imposed by a lower court a week earlier following an application by MTL's former board member who asked the court to stop government from proceeding with the sale of the telephone company, claiming that MTL's sale lacked transparency and the price at which government was selling the company was far below the firm's actual value.

The Malawi government has sold MTL at about 27.4 million U.S. dollars to THL, which comprises Malawi's conglomerate, Press Corporation as a major shareholder and Germany's Detecon International as a technical partner and minority shareholder.

"THL has now effectively become the new majority shareholder in MTL owning 80 percent of the total shares. The remaining 20 percent will still remain with the government of Malawi and will be disposed of at a later date in a manner that will enhance Malawian participation in the company," stated the PC.

MTL's privatization process, which began 1998, has been a controversial issue especially in the past year when there was increasing public outcry that the company was being sold at a very low price considering claims that about 200 million dollars had been pumped into the company between 1999 and 2005.

Following mounting public protests against the sale, President Bingu wa Mutharika suspended the sale of MTL in August last year but lifted the suspension in December, 2005.

Government's decision to sell MTL has been heavily criticized by Malawi's rights groups who have accused President Mutharika on assenting to a privatization drive that was only benefiting foreigners and not poor Malawians.

A total of 65 state owned entities in Malawi have been privatized since 1996 when the country embarked on the World Bank championed privatization program.

Source: Xinhua