Nigerian mobile operator Etisalat Nigeria has spent over $2 billion on the rollout of its GSM network in the year since the cellco launched operations, Daily Trust reports, citing the Etisalat Nigeria’s Chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie.
Etisalat has constructed over 500 active cell sites nationwide, providing coverage to around 40% of the population. Read the rest of this entry »
As an indication of optimism in the market, leading companies like Ecobank, Halliburton, and Total will be congregating in London to secure talented professionals for their operations across Africa at the Careers in Africa Recruitment Summit from 30 October to 1 November.
This will be the second edition of the Summit this year following a very successful event in May. Kabeho Solo, Chief Human Resources Officer at National Microfinance Bank of Tanzania says “This event continues to be a source of high caliber talent from diverse backgrounds.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Nigerian government has decided that the country’s GSM network operators will not be allowed to buy the mobile assets of state-owned NITEL when it is eventually privatized. Although the government was originally looking to sell the company as a single entity, the government has now agreed to split the company into its component divisions and sell them separately.
Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, said that the decision was based on the advice of the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The four GSM networks, MTN, Etisalat, Zain, and Globacom will be allowed to bid for NITEL’s land line assets, although Glo will only be allowed to bid for the CDMA and international gateway assets and licenses as it already holds a land line license. Read the rest of this entry »
Nigeria has received expressions of interest from 13 potential investors in the sale of, at least, 75% of NITEL, the former state telecommunications monopoly which it has been trying to privatize for years.
The Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) said it would evaluate interest from companies including the Nigerian arms of South Africa’s MTN and Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat), MTNL India, a group involving Spain’s Telefonica and Nigerian firm Globacom.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets, adding 7 million new subscribers in the last quarter of 2008 alone, and has overtaken South Africa to become the biggest on the continent. That could make it attractive to foreign investors, particularly if NITEL’s M-TEL mobile unit can be bought at the right price. However, the Nigerian government has struggled to sell NITEL, largely because of the state of its fixed line infrastructure. Read the rest of this entry »
Etisalat Nigeria, the country’s newest GSM mobile network operator, has announced that it has passed the one million subscriber mark – less than nine months after the company launched its services in Nigeria.
According to the CEO, Steven Evans, “The swift and steady growth in our subscriber numbers is an evidence of the acceptance we have enjoyed from our customers and the superior service quality we offer. We are delighted to have been able to hit such a figure under a year of commercial operations despite our position as the fifth entrant into the dynamic Nigerian telecoms market”.
Based on figures from the Mobile World, at the end of Q1, the market shares for the operators in Nigeria were:
Of the country’s CDMA networks, their respective market shares are:
Mobile operator, Zain, and Ericsson have entered a five-year strategic managed services agreement under which Ericsson will operate Zain’s nationwide GSM/WCDMA networks in Nigeria. Under the agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the network operations, field operations, including optimisation, third-party vendor management for Zain’s GSM/WCDMA networks, and business support systems.
Ericsson will serve more than 4,000 sites across Nigeria on behalf of Zain. As part of the agreement, about 450 employees will be transferred, under their existing terms and conditions of service, from Zain to Ericsson, where they will undergo further training in the latest wireless technologies.
The contract gives Ericsson its first major managed services footprint in Africa, and reflects its continued focus on high-growth markets, where most subscriber growth is expected to take place during the next five years.
Lars Lindén, President, Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says the agreement will deliver significant financial and operational efficiencies for Zain over the five-year term. “Managed services is one of the fastest-growing areas in telecoms and Nigeria is demonstrating strong growth and increased levels of investment and competition,” he says. “The synergies between the two companies will ensure best-in-class network stability and market support.” Read the rest of this entry »
