MAURITIUS Telecom has acquired 66% of the private Madagascar telephone company Sosaiety Misahna Varotra Sylndostria, the Mauritian national company said on Tuesday.The installation of expansion facilities will begin in April at a cost of 15 million dollars to MT, which will oversee the financial, commercial, technical and administrative management of SMVI. According to 1996 figures, the Indian Ocean island nation has only 40000 telephone lines for a population of 15 million. Initially, 1000 phone lines will be installed in the capital Antananarivo, before SMVI targets other big cities and rural areas.
EGYPT RATIFIES COMESA
EGYPT has ratified the treaty of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa). The ratification instrument was deposited on Tuesday at the grouping’s secretariat in Lusaka by the Egyptian ambassador to Zambia, Safwat Ayoub. Ayoub said Egypt is committed to the economic intergration of the region and pledged to invest heavily and trade with Zambia on a comparative basis. He said Egypt will start importing tea, coffee and tobacco, and other products from Zambia and other Comesa member-countries where prices are lower than other economic blocks such as the European Union.