MALAWI’S telecommunications parastatal, Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL), this week launched an ambitious five-year strategic plan to triple the number of fixed-line telephones in the country in an apparent attempt to beat off competition from mobile and cellular telephone networks. MTL chief executive Emmanuel Mahuka said that the plan would include upgrading the country’s existing 45 000 telephone lines and expand message and data services offered to subscribers. “We have dominated Malawi’s telephone sector for a long time, but our competitors appear to be outpacing us right now,” said Mahuka. MTL currently enjoys a monopoly on fixed-line telephone services in the small country of roughly 10 million people. The country’s only two other registered telecommunication companies, cellular providers Celtel Malawi and Telekoms Networks Limited, have signed up 25000 subscribers despite only operating for between two and three years. – African Eye News Service