Zambia has frozen Libyan investment in the state-run telecommunication company in line with international demands that assets of Libya be frozen following unrest in that country, the Zambia Daily Mail reported Saturday.
Libya's telecommunication giant, Lap Green Networks, last year acquired 75 percent shares in the state-owned Zamtel following the Zambian government's move to seek for a strategic equity in the company that was facing liquidity problems. But the Zambian government has been under pressure to freeze the Libyan investment in the company, Xinhua reported.
"I can confirm that Lap Green's 75 percent shares in Zamtel have been frozen, just like the Minister of Finance and National Planning intimated to Parliament recently. This means that Zamtel will not have to touch the shares for now," the company's managing director, Hans Paulsen, was quoted as saying by the paper.
Zambian Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane recently told parliament that the UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 were likely to affect Lap Green's shareholding in the Zambian telecommunication firm but would not affect the operations of the company.
According to the company official, the development will not affect the operations of the company and that there is no need for customers to worry.
No dividends will be paid out at the moment until such a time when the matter will be resolved, the official added. The official however expressed optimism that the Zambian government, which currently owns 25 percent shares in the company, will help to ensure that the company's operations were not affected.