Airtel Uganda's initial public offering (IPO) only received a 54.45 percent subscription rate for the shares offered for sale.

The telco confirmed that of the 8 billion shares up for grabs, it received offers for 4.36 billion shares, raising 211.43 billion shillings ($56 million). Airtel set the share price at 100 Ugandan shillings.

Airtel had earlier said it hoped to raise 800 billion Ugandan shillings ($213 million) from the IPO.

The IPO was launched back in August, and sought to float a 20 percent stake in the company.

To heighten interest in the IPO, Airtel Uganda even doubled the number of bonus shares on offer.

However, since the IPO ended on October 27, the plan to attract interest hasn't gone as planned. Retail investors accounted for just 0.3 percent of the IPO

Speaking last month, the operator said that the offer aimed to preference Ugandan investors.

A listing is set to be carried out by December 16 in accordance with the terms of its National Telecommunications Operator (NTO) license.

Airtel was given a 12-month extension to list its shares after initially missing the deadline last December.

When its domestic rival MTN Uganda carried out its own share listing back in 2021, it also didn't get the offers it hoped for, but it fared better than Airtel, with a subscription rate of 64.7 percent.

Airtel is the second-biggest mobile operator in Uganda, and has more than 10 million mobile subscribers.