Bharti Airtel to pay Tanzania $26 mln, cancel debt at unit to settle dispute

DAR ES SALAAM: India’s Bharti Airtel has agreed to pay 60 billion shillings ($26 million) over five years and cancel debt to resolve a dispute over ownership of its Airtel Tanzania unit, the Tanzanian government said on Monday.

Tanzania’s minister for foreign affairs and east Africa cooperation, Palamagamba Kabudi, announced the deal at a ceremony to receive a three-month batch of monthly payments worth 1 billion shillings each due from April this year.

Bharti Airtel also cancelled $407 million of debt owed to it by Airtel Tanzania as part of the the settlement, Kabudi said.