Can troubled Telecel Zimabwe find an investor?

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Investment; 27 April 2026; 551 views

State-run operator Telecel Zimbabwe is looking for an investor willing not only to take on a very big debt burden but also to put a lot of fresh capital into reviving the company.

Last week a corporate rescue practitioner issued an invitation tender to interested parties to invest in Telecel Zimbabwe. The biggest problem – though the others aren’t small – is a US$240 million creditor exposure.

Bidders would not just need to settle liabilities of course. A capital injection will be needed to revive and sustainably reposition the business; years of underinvestment, have left it with outdated infrastructure.

Dealing with this could cost US$50 million – as a starting point – to modernise the network, improve service quality and restore competitiveness.

In 2023 we reported that Telecel had been placed under bankruptcy protection measures to prevent its liquidation. Telecel entered corporate rescue in October 2025 under provisions of the Insolvency Act (Zimbabwe) after its board concluded that the business was financially distressed but still recoverable.

The process provides temporary protection from creditor action while a restructuring strategy is pursued. The Ecofin news agency adds that Telecel has been plagued by shareholder disputes and governance uncertainty that led to the Zimbabwean state taking a majority stake.

The Herald Online news service says Telecel’s active subscriptions had dropped to just over 319,000 by the third quarter of 2025, leaving it with less than 2% of the market. By contrast, rival operator Econet Wireless Zimbabwe controlled about 73%, while NetOne (which has had problems of its own) held roughly a quarter.

Interested parties are required to register by April 28, 2026, after which they will be granted access to detailed information under non-disclosure agreements. Then there will be a five-week due diligence period, submission of final bids by 15 June and then adjudication, before proposals are presented to creditors for consideration in early July.