The government of Timor Leste (East Timor) has approved the purchase of the stake owned by Brazil’s OIi telecommunications company Timor Telecom, a source from the Timorese government said Thursday in Dili.

The source also told Portuguese news agency Lusa that the government would appoint a committee to negotiate the value of the transaction with the consortium authorised by Oi to divest its stake in Timor Telecom (TT).

The transaction involves the largest stake in TT (54.01 percent), controlled by Telecomunicações Públicas de Timor (TPT) in which Oi controls 76 percent in addition to a direct stake owned by PT Participações SGPS of 3.05 percent.

The remaining shareholders of TPT are Timor Leste development fund Fundação Harii (linked to the diocese of Baucau), which owns 18 percent and Fundação Oriente (6 percent).

TT’s capital is split between TPT (54.01 percent), the Timorese State (20.59 percent), macau-based company VDT Operator Holdings (17.86 percent) and Timorese businessman Julio Alfaro (4.49 percent).

At the end of last year, PT Participações estimated that the total value of TT was around US$150 million, and that its indirect stake (41.12 percent) and direct stake (3.05 percent) is worth US$66.26 million. (macauhub/BR/PT/TL)