Harare — A Consortium led by Zimbabwe's Econet Wire-less International has won the bid for the privatisation of the Lesotho Tele-communications Corporation (LTC) while another consortium in which Econet is a member has emerged as one of only two contenders for the privatisation of Cameroon's national telecoms operator Camtel.

A spokesman for Eco-net said yesterday the bid for 70 percent of LTC by the Mountain Kingdom Consortium would enable Econet to operate a fixed telephony and cellular service as well as an Internet network on be-half of the consortium that also includes Eskom Enterprises of South Africa.

"We have successfully negotiated for the acquisition of the controlling 70 percent stake in LTC and we expect to take control of the former parastatal within a matter of weeks," the spokesman said.

"Apart from the fixed line business, we expect to also set up a new cellular and an Internet business. Lesotho will have one of the most advanced telecommunications infrastructure in Africa within 18 months."

The spokesman said the consortium was confident of the success of the venture in Lesotho, where the telecoms market was extremely underserved despite having sophisticated consumers by virtue of their proximity to South Africa.

The success of the Lesotho bid is part of a major strategy announced in February this year by Econet Wireless International to reposition the group as a multinational player.

The company has since successfully launched a satellite business based in Morocco to provide corporate data to large corporations in the oil-rich Gulf countries.

Econet Wireless Inter-national is also part of a consortium that recently won an Internet licence in Malta and has started an Internet start-up company, Worldstream, that is fast becoming a world player in global media streaming, providing Internet access to radio and television stations around the world.

"Bidding on privatization has become a key part of our expansion strategy," said the spokes-man, announcing that Econet and its partners were last week short-listed as one of only two contenders for the privatisation of Cameroon's public telephone company Camtel.

In the bidding progress that was almost a repeat of the privatisation of LTC, the Econet-led consortium squared up against Telecel International, which was recently acquired by Egypt's Orascom.

The Zimbabwean company teamed up in its bid for Camtel with se-veral international financial and technical partners who included Eskom Enterprises, Tunisia Telecom and British Telecom.

Econet acted as the consortium leader and was responsible for putting together the bidding documentation.

The National Merchant Bank of Zimbabwe, First Africa, an international financial institution with operations in South Africa and Kenya, and UBS Warburgs based in Geneva were the financial advisers to the consortium.

The legal team was led by American telecoms lawyers Thelan Reid &Priest.

The privatisation of Camtel has taken more than a year and the winner is expected to be announced within weeks.

Econet Wireless Inter-national is also part of the Mount Kenya Communications consortium that has been short-listed to acquire 49 percent of Telecom Kenya Limited (TKL).

TKL is one of the largest operators in sub-Saharan Africa with over 300 000 customers. It also has one of the two licences to operate a cellular phone business in Kenya and currently has more than 15 000 customers.