The company’s results stand in contrast to the net losses of 2,130 million meticais (28.6 million euros) in 2023, which had been halved following the losses recorded in 2022, amounting to nearly 4,333 million meticais (58.2 million euros) during that period.
The document notes that the company closed 2024 with an active mobile customer base of 841,171, up from 717,052 the previous year, while the fixed network services decreased from 27,562 to 25,363 lines in the same period.
“By the end of 2024, as a result of the implementation of the second phase of the Network Modernization and Expansion Project, initiated in January 2022, a total of 1,248 sites [antennas] were modernized and/or activated,” the document states.
The State holds the majority share (66% of the capital) of the operator, along with the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), which owns 26% and intervened in Tmcel in March 2023 to “improve its performance”, moving forward with a Revitalization Plan approved two months later.
The company closed 2024 with negative equity of 14,563 million meticais (195.9 million euros), worsened by the losses of that year, with a total asset of 23,378 million meticais (315 million euros) and total liabilities of 37,942 million meticais (510.5 million euros).
In the independent auditor’s report included in Tmcel’s 2024 accounts, EY stated that the operator’s negative equity is “due to accumulated losses (including the year’s loss) of 28,639,631,465 meticais [385.3 million euros]” and current liabilities “exceed current assets by 19,773,327,980 meticais [266 million euros]”, indicating a material uncertainty that could cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel) was established in December 2018 from the merger of the defunct Telecomunicações de Moçambique (TDM) and Moçambique Celular (Mcel), to “create a single, competitive, and sustainable entity in the market,” according to the company.
At its inception, Tmcel, whose share capital is still 8% owned by former employees of the two defunct companies, employed 2,054 workers. By 2022, this number had decreased to 1,476, with the company closing 2023 with a total of 1,370 workers and 2024 with 1,334.
In September 2023, Tmcel’s management committee president, Mahomed Adamo Mussá, stated in Maputo that the state’s telecommunications firm was experiencing a “new renaissance” as part of the revitalization of operations, budgeted at 132 million dollars (121 million euros).
“The first two months were spent drafting an 18-month plan to reverse the company’s situation (…) This is what we’re going to do: a new rebirth,” said Mahomed Adamo Mussá.
The administration reported growth in various indicators with the inclusion of new products, already resulting from the network expansion and modernization project, funded by China’s Eximbank and in its final stage of completion.
Also, as part of the modernization and expansion of the network, which began in January 2022 after “almost 10 years without investment,” Tmcel, operating a support network of 7,600 kilometers of fiber optics and 8,500 kilometers of access networks, had already increased broadband coverage from 10 to 400 gigabits per second (Gbps) and global 4.5G mobile network coverage by 2023.
