Mozambique’s state-owned telecommunications operator Tmcel reported losses of 4.441 billion meticais (€59.7 million) in 2024, double the amount recorded the previous year, according to its financial report reviewed today by Lusa.
This performance contrasts with the negative net results of 2.130 billion meticais (€28.6 million) in 2023, which had been halved compared to 2022 losses of nearly 4.333 billion meticais (€58.2 million).
According to the report, the company ended 2024 with a portfolio of 841,171 active mobile clients, up from 717,052 the year before, while the number of fixed-line services decreased from 27,562 to 25,363 during 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, launched in January 2022, a total of 1,248 sites [cell towers] were modernized and/or activated,” the report states.
The State is the majority shareholder, holding 66% of Tmcel’s share capital, alongside the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), which holds 26%. IGEPE intervened in the company in March 2023 “to improve its performance,” initiating a Revitalization Plan approved two months later.
Tmcel ended 2024 with negative equity of 14.563 billion meticais (€195.9 million), worsened by that year’s losses. The company had total assets of 23.378 billion meticais (€315 million) and total liabilities of 37.942 billion meticais (€510.5 million).
In its independent audit report on Tmcel’s 2024 accounts, EY notes that the company’s negative equity “results from accumulated losses (including the year’s loss) of 28.639 billion meticais [€385.3 million],” and a current liability exceeding current assets by 19.773 billion meticais [€266 million], which “raises material uncertainty regarding the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel) was established in December 2018 through the merger of the now-defunct Telecommunications of Mozambique (TDM) and Mozambique Cellular (Mcel), to create “a single, competitive, and sustainable entity in the market,” the company recalls.
At the time of its founding, Tmcel — 8% of whose share capital is still held by former employees of the two merged companies — had a workforce of 2,054 employees. By 2022, that number had fallen to 1,476, with the operator ending 2023 with 1,370 employees and 2024 with 1,334.
In September 2023, Tmcel’s management board president, Mahomed Adamo Mussá, stated in Maputo that the Mozambican state telecom was experiencing “a new rebirth,” as part of an operational revitalization effort budgeted at $132 million (€121 million).
“The first two months were spent drafting an 18-month plan to turn the company around (…) That’s what we’re doing: a new rebirth,” said Mahomed Adamo Mussá.
The administration has reported growth across several indicators, driven by the introduction of new products, a result of the ongoing network modernization and expansion project, financed by China’s Eximbank and now nearing completion.
As part of this initiative — launched in January 2022 after “almost 10 years without investment” — Tmcel, which operates a backbone network of 7,600 kilometers of fiber optic and 8,500 kilometers of access networks, had already increased its broadband capacity from 10 to 400 gigabits per second (Gbps) in 2023, along with 4.5G mobile network coverage nationwide.
Source: Lusa
