The Mozambique government will launch an international tender for a third mobile phone license in December.

The process was put on hold in April to address complaints by existing mobile wireless operators Mcel and South Africa’s Vodacom.

Transport and communications minister Paulo Zucula said the issues have been resolved and that a bidding document is now being prepared.

Africa’s biggest operator MTN, Kuwait’s Zain and Portugal’s Telecom have expressed interest to enter the market. 

According to GlobalComms database, there were 4.88 million mobile subscribers in the country by the end of June 2009, up from 3.87 million in 2008. Wireless penetration grew from 17.8% to 22.4%.

Zucula said many foreign companies are attracted to Mozambique due to its economic stability, availability of commodities and steady gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates.