/ 24 March 2000

SA FIRM OUT OF UGANDA TELECOMS

TELECOMS firm Ikwezi has pulled out of a consortium that won a bid to buy a majority stake in state-owned Uganda Telecommunications Limited (UTL), government officials said on Friday. They did not say why Ikwezi pulled out of the consortium and company officials were not immediately available for comment. But the head of Uganda’s privatisation body, Michael Opagi, said that Ikwezi’s withdrawal will not jeopardise the bid even though the group is the consortium’s financial backer.