Indian state-owned operator BSNL has pulled out of the race to acquire a majority stake in Zambia’s incumbent operator Zamtel after conducting due diligence. According to Reuters, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) said on Friday that three companies have submitted binding bids to buy the 75 percent stake following BSNL’s withdrawal: Angola’s Unitel, Libya’s LAP Green Networks and Russia’s Altimo. “These bids will be subjected to an evaluation by the ZDA and after the evaluation they will be presented to the ZDA board who are going to make a decision as to which ones to shortlist for negotiations,” said ZDA privatisation manager Henry Sakala. The Zamtel sale has been criticised by opposition politicians and trade unions, who say Zambians should hold a bigger stake in the company. Zamtel’s revenue for the year to end-December was US$100 million.

Meanwhile, another African telecoms privatisation – Nigeria’s Nitel – is now under review with Nigeria’s acting president Goodluck Jonathan personally overseeing the process. In a meeting of the National Council on Privatisation, chaired by President Jonathan, the Nigerian government said it had set up a committee of senior officials to do “further due diligence on the prospective investors” in Nitel, notes the Wall Street Journal. A consortium known as New Generation Telecommunications has tabled a bid of US$2.5 billion for 75 percent of Nitel – including its mobile arm, Mtel – and is currently the leading bidder. However, last week President Jonathan cast the long-running saga into doubt by suspending the head of the government body overseeing the sale without giving reasons. The consortium is fronted by GiCell, a small local telecoms firm, and advised by BGL, a prominent Nigerian brokerage. Despite initially denying its involvement, a London-based subsidiary of China Unicom also recently confirmed that the Chinese mobile operator is also involved.