Malawi to invite bids for third mobile operator after earlier licences collapsed

Malawi’s government is preparing to launch a bidding process for a third mobile network operator, in a move intended to sharpen competition in a telecommunications market currently dominated by two established players.

Dr Shadric Namalomba, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, told Parliament that President Arthur Peter Mutharika had authorised the ministry to identify an investor capable of deploying network infrastructure without delay — a stipulation that reflects the government’s frustration with previous attempts to introduce a third operator.

Namalomba said earlier licence holders had secured valuable spectrum allocations but failed to build out any actual network operations, prompting the government to revoke the licences in question.

Those companies subsequently pursued damages claims against the state, a legal overhang that has complicated the sector’s regulatory history and likely weighed on investor sentiment toward the market.

The episode underscores a familiar tension in African telecommunications liberalisation: spectrum allocated to build competition can instead become a speculative asset, held without commensurate capital investment, leaving incumbents’ market position largely undisturbed while regulators are left managing the legal fallout of enforcement action.

For Malawi, the push for a credible third entrant will test whether the ministry can attract an operator with both the balance sheet and the operational commitment to avoid repeating that pattern — a precondition, officials suggest, for genuinely improving service quality and pricing for Malawian consumers.

Malawi  has two mobile networks, Airtel Malawi and Telecom Networks Malawi.