The Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC) has sold its 50 per cent shareholding in CEC Liquid Telecommunication Limited (CEC Liquid Telecom) to pan-African telecoms group, Liquid Telecommunication Holdings Limited (Liquid Telecom).

According to press release, CEC’s decision to divest from the telecoms space was motivated by recent developments in the sector, which necessitated a review of its strategy vis-à-vis its investment in the sector.

With this acquisition, Liquid Telecom now has full ownership of CEC Liquid Telecom and its retail arm, Hai Zambia.

Commenting on the disposal of its 50 per cent interest, CEC managing director Owen Silavwe, however, stated that CEC would continue to be involved with the company as an infrastructure provider.

“While this transaction provides an equity exit for CEC, we will continue to be involved with the company as an infrastructure provider. We are glad to have been a part of CEC Liquid Telecom’s innovative service offering under our part ownership and remain excited about its future,” Silavwe stated.

“This is a venture whose birth and growth we have nurtured, witnessed and been a part of. Its value and service provision has grown immensely over the years and we are pleased that we can hand it over to people whose competence to continue with service delivery improvements, value creation and realisation for the business, going forward, is not in doubt.”

Until now, CEC and Liquid Telecom were equal partners in the joint-venture subsidiary since 2011.

At the time of forming the venture, CEC’s investment rationale in CEC Liquid Telecom was to facilitate for the full commercialization of CEC’s telecoms assets, ensuring adequate ring-fencing of the telecoms operations from the power business.

The CEC Liquid Telecom joint-venture, formed by the two partners in 2011, had grown to become a market leader and had invested in the rollout of a fibre optic network across Zambia that, today, delivers some of the country’s and Africa’s fastest broadband speeds.

CEC Liquid Telecom serves a range of wholesale, enterprise and retail customers and has launched the leading 4G LTE network in all 10 provinces of Zambia.

The company also now offers Office 365, accesses through its leading-edge fibre network, to businesses of all sizes in Zambia.

The model was based on leased infrastructure capacity, aligning well with the CEC power business model.