5,000 Telephone Company Workers to be Fired

Centr-Am News, XXVI, week of Sept. 13–19 1998

The Honduran government announced on September 13 that more than 5,000 workers will be laid off in preparation for the privatization of the Honduran telephone company, HONDUTEL, in 1999.

HONDUTEL Board of Directors spokesman Hector Bulnes said each worker will be paid 130 per cent of his or her annual salary when they are dismissed, for a total of some $32 million.

According to the Honduran government there are 39 companies from the U.S., Europe, Mexico and South America interested in acquiring 51 per cent, or a controlling interest, in the company. The government says it plans to sell four per cent of the shares to the employees, and it will retain 45 per cent. The government has valued the shares at $632 million dollars.

An international consortium consisting of N. M. Rothschild & Son Limited, of France, Price Waterhouse LLP, of Great Britain Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, of the U.S., are advising the Honduran government on the privatization of the telephone company. The business that acquires the controlling interest in HONDUTEL with have a 25-year monopoly on telecommunications services inside Honduras. (La Nacion from AP, Costa Rica, 9/14/98; Agencia Informativa Amarc-Pulsar, 9/14/98)