Orascom Telecom (OT) is currently bidding for one of four GSM licenses in Nigeria. Notification of qualified bidders was given on December 22. However, Nigeria’s fixed carrier NITEL is expected to win one of these licenses, leaving three open for competitive bidding.
The initial bid is expected to be $100 million. Nigeria currently has around 40,000 mobile subscribers among a population of 110 million with GDP per capita of $3,000 after factoring in the gray economy.
On a related note, Telecel International (80 percent owned by OT) is currently in negotiations with the Cameroon government to acquire 51 percent of the state-owned telecom Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel), which maintains both fixed and mobile networks in the country. According to Pyramid Research, an Economist Intelligence Unit publication, the deal has already been finalized.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Mobile Communication – Mobilink (38.7 percent owned by OT) has signed a $26 million network expansion contract with Motorola. Under the terms of the contract, Motorola will increase network capacity from 150,000 subscribers to 300,000 by installing its new generation portfolio of GSM infrastructure solutions in major cities such as Karachi, Lahore,
Faisalabad and Islamabad. — (Lebanon Invest)
