President Yoweri Museveni has met the head of the MTN Group CEO Shuter Rob at the World Economic Forum where the latter reaffirmed MTN Group’s commitment to Uganda and to discuss recent developments in the market.
The meeting will help dispel tensions that had been brewing after three staff from the Telecommunications company had been deported amidst allegations of espionage.
President Museveni reiterated to the Group CEO his desire to have the Telecom Network float it’s shares on the local stock exchange such that Ugandans can partly own the company.
The President emphasized that local ownership is important in stemming capital flight when such companies are foreign owned. He scorned upon companies that repatriate profits without value addition and wealth creation to Ugandans.
Museveni also warned Telecom companies against under declaring calls and cheating the government of revenue. He said that the government had purchased machines to detect and track these calls.
The President also announced that it is for this reason that the government was banning registration of fully-owned foreign betting companies while old ones wouldn’t have their licenses renewed.
A wide array of other issues were discussed between the two CEOs at the global meet.
The meeting shows the President’s commitment towards economic development and businesses in the country that have facilitated the current growth.
MTN is the largest Telecom operator in Uganda and is hailed for helping to liberalize the industry and increasing mobile phone penetration in the country.