Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Thursday called on the management and all the staff of the publicly owned mobile phone company, m-Cel, to internationalise the business and to expand its services from the third to the fourth generation of mobile telephony.

Speaking at a gala dinner held to mark the 15th anniversary of m-Cel, the first and largest mobile phone company in Mozambique, Guebuza stressed that m-Cel must work for constant improvement in its services, and consolidate its presence throughout the national territory.

“m-Cel should be transformed into a centre of excellence, where world trends are shaped to serve Mozambique’s development agenda”, he said.

“m-Cel can and must dream of its internationalization, at the same time as it leads us to other levels of development and of the expansion of its services from the third to the fourth generation”.

Guebuza praised the contribution of m-Cel to generating income for more than 3,000 citizens through the direct and indirect jobs it has created.

The chairperson of the m-Cel Board, Teodato Hunguana, said that, from the date of the company’s foundation in 1007 up until now, m-Cel has installed about 1,300 base stations throughout the country. It currently covers all provincial and district capitals and 272 of the country’s 428 administrative posts.

“With the investments approved and under way the company will cover about 300 administrative posts by June next year”, he said. “m-Cel will continue to invest in quality, innovation, new services, expansion of its national coverage, and in mobile broadband services, through the 3G network and the preparations to implement a 4G network”.

Hunguana stressed that, thanks to a policy of intensive training, the management of m-Cel was now entirely in Mozambican hands. The company started with 50 workers in 1997 – now it has 850 employees, of whom only 12 are foreigners.

Currently m-Cel claims five million clients, scattered throughout the country, but particularly in the main cities.