UTL asks for more time to pay creditors

Creditors of the Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) may have to wait a little longer for struggling government telecom company to clear their debts after the interim administration failed to settle them in the set period of six months.

Government figures indicate that UTL is indebted to the tune of Shs 500 billion against its accounts receivables amounting to about 200 billion shillings.

The registrar general of Uganda Registration Services Bureau (USRB), Bemanya Twebaze, who

doubles as government’s official receiver for UTL said despite the growing revenue and increase in business deals the company is not yet in position to pay off their creditors.*

The government in February took over the heavily indebted company after its Libyan majority shareholders pulled out. The Libyans owned 69-percent stake in the company.

"The six month ultimatum that was given to us to pay the creditors wasn’t enough. Through voting 95% of the creditors have agreed with us to extend the period to an extra six months," Twebaze said.

Twebaze said that the task that was given to him to liberate the indebted company was under estimated and they can’t rush into signing new contracts without critically analysing them.