SPTC IN SERIOUS FINANCIAL TROUBLE

MBABANE – Dumisani Ndlangamandla, Minister for Information, Communication and Technology, says the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunication Corporation (SPTC) is facing financial challenges.
The public company recorded a loss of E142.7 million during the financial period ending March 2014.

Total revenue amounted to E560 million but operating costs stood at E535 million.
The parastatal’s financials reveal that during this period, it made E937 457 in revenue from wireless services.
This has been confirmed by documents this newspaper is in possession of. The documents show that the parastatal is divided into two components, – Swazi Telecom and Swazi Post.
Despite all this, the minister says the problems are not so serious that they could mean the company needs a bailout.

However, if no solution is found immediately, such salvage measures cannot not be ruled out.
Government is the sole shareholder of the company that employs over 700 employees. SPTC also owns a majority stake in Swazi MTN, with an ownership of 41 per cent.
Ndlangamandla said fortunes of the company were on a downward spiral and the situation was so bad that the company was having difficulties in conducting its operations.
He said if the situation was not addressed, the company could face difficulties in meeting its obligations.

On a positive note though, he said the company had mapped a turnaround strategy which would be used to change the fortunes.
The minister said the company’s strategy was yet to be presented to Cabinet for approval, before being implemented.
The strategy was crafted by Deloitte and Touche Swaziland consultants.

Ndlangamandla, however, said, he had looked at the strategy and had not seen anything pertaining the retrenchment of employees.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: