Glo Partners With UBA's Afripay For Mobile Money Service

Nigerian operator Glo Mobile has signed a memorandum of understanding with mobile payment specialist Afripay paving the way for the nationwide launch of a mobile money service.

Afripay is part of UBA Group, which earlier obtained a mobile money licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The MoU will allow Glo Mobile's mobile subscribers to open a mobile money account to store electronic money on their mobile phones and to use their mobile number as account number.

It will also allow users to transfer money to any mobile number, spend money directly from their mobile money account, and buy airtime for themselves and others. Afripay's mobile money product, which is branded as U-Mo, has been successfully test-run through select agents.

Nigeria Working on New NITEL Privatisation Bid

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the agency tasked with overseeing the privatisation of fixed line incumbent Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL), is finalising the process for a negotiated sale of the telco, after the latest attempt to privatise the ailing company was cancelled earlier this year.

Nigerian newspaper The Punch cites a spokesman for the BPE, Mr. Chukwuma Nwoko, as saying that the bureau is working out the details for the sale of NITEL and its mobile arm M-Tel. He also confirmed that a number of potential core investors had shown interest in the exercise but declined to disclose the identity of the firms.

In the last month, initial bidder Brymedia Consortium, local firm Syntel and Microfone Telecom Nigeria, an initiative of the Nigerian Capital Development Fund, have all reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring NITEL and M-Tel.

Meanwhile, Mike Adenuga, executive chairman of Nigeria’s second national telecoms operator Globacom, allegedly approached the government to purchase a stake in NITEL via a vehicle established especially for the deal.

Earlier this month that the BPE was given government approval to embark on a negotiated sale of NITEL, after the latest attempt to privatise the firm was cancelled in June 2011 when the reserve bidder, British Virgin Islands-based Omen International, failed to meet the deadline to pay a bid security. Omen was invited to re-register its interest in buying NITEL in March 2011, as preferred buyer New Generation Telecommunications repeatedly missed the payment deadlines for its bid of USD2.5 billion.

Omen offered USD956.9 million during the latest attempt to privatise the company, held in February 2010. The government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of M-Tel in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year.

Glo-1 Launched

West African submarine fibre-optic cable system Glo-1, which was developed by Nigeria’s second national operator Globacom and French-US vendor Alcatel-Lucent, has been commercially launched, local newspaper Leadership reports.

The 9,800km cable stretches from the UK across West Africa and has landing points in Nigeria, London and Lisbon, connecting 17 countries to the rest of the world. Globacom’s chairman, Mike Adenuga Jnr, said Nigerians will now have the opportunity to compete with the rest of the world, while broadband access and other services, such as long-distance voice, will now become more affordable in the country.

Globacom contracted Alca-Lu to install the cable system in 2005, in order fill the void of international connectivity in the region. The USD250 million cable landed in Lagos in September 2009 and Accra in Ghana the following month, and has been ready for commissioning since July 2010. The cable has ultimate capacity of 2.5Tbps and is expected to provide faster, more reliable internet services at a lower cost.

Ghana Says Glo Is Free To do Business

Ghana’s Business Day newspaper quotes the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hanna S Tetteh, as saying that Ghanaian start-up Glo Mobile Ghana is ‘free to do business in Ghana’, hopefully ending long running speculation on its Nigerian parent, Globacom’s, future in the country.

In May this year Nigeria-based Globacom which is itself majority owned by Nigerian petrochemical firm Conpetro, a venture of the entrepreneur Mike Adenuga, threatened to exit Ghana in the face of what it termed ‘interests’ seemingly hell-bent on sabotaging its nationwide launch plans.

At the time an unnamed source claimed that since Glo Mobile was awarded its GSM frequencies by the National Communications Authority (NCA), it has faced obstacles in terms of seeking approval for the swift deployment of its base stations, an encroachment on the frequencies it was awarded by the NCA and the repeated vandalism of its advertising billboards.

However, the minister has told Business Day that all obstacles to the telco’s operation in Ghana have now been removed. ‘To the best of my knowledge from the communications authorities, there were two issues with regards to Glo. The frequency that they were assigned to was not available because it was being partially used by the national security apparatus. But that frequency has been available to them since January, and so at the moment if they want to start their business it is possible for them to do so,’ she said.

Tetteh also went on to clarify the issue of Glo’s problems in securing permits to erect telecoms towers. ‘There was no ban on Glo,’ she said. ‘As at last year, we put a ban on the erection of new telephone masts. We did this because of the quality of the infrastructure and the hazardous way they were being put up in all sorts of locations.’ As such the minister claims the ban was on the industry as a whole and not designed to single out the would-be newcomer.

Glo Secures Gambia Licence

According to a company statement, Nigerian telco Globacom (Glo) has secured a licence to operate in Gambia. The concession is Glo’s sixth, and comes four months after the award of a licence in Senegal. The company’s other countries of operation are Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire.

On receiving the licence, Glo’s executive director for human resources Adewale Sangowawa said: ‘This adds impetus to our desire to provide the West African sub-region with an excellent communication network and cost-effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services.'

The licence allows Globacom to land its Glo 1 trans-Atlantic submarine cable in Gambia, with opportunities to extend the infrastructure to neighbouring countries. It also gives the company the right to carry traffic for major operators, the government and wholesale customers in Gambia.

Glo-1 Is Ready For Launch

West African submarine fibre-optic cable system Glo-1, which was developed by Nigerian telecoms operator Globacom and French vendor Alcatel-Lucent, is ready for commissioning, Nigerian newspaper THISDAY reports. The 9,800km cable stretches from the UK across West Africa and has landing points in Nigeria, London and Lisbon, connecting 17 countries to the rest of the world.

End-to-end testing of Glo-1, conducted in London and Lagos, has been successful, and according to Globacom's COO Mohamed Jameel, the commissioning process will begin by mid-July. ‘Glo-1 will provide the needed opportunity for West African countries and indeed Africa to leap forward economically through an excellent communication network and cost effective voice, data, video and e-commerce services across Africa, Europe and rest of the world,’ a statement from Globacom announced.

Globacom contracted Alca-Lu to install the cable system in 2005, in order fill the void of international connectivity in the region. The USD250 million cable landed in Lagos in September 2009 and Accra in Ghana the following month (increasing fibre-optic capacity in that country from 120Gbps to 640Gbps). The cable has ultimate capacity of 2.5Tbps and is expected to provide faster, more reliable internet services at a lower cost.

Glo Gets Senegal Licence

Nigeria-based Globalcom (Glo Mobile) has reportedly been issued with a mobile operator’s licence in Senegal. If confirmed, the concession, the fourth to be awarded in the West African country, will also allow Globacom to land its Glo 1 trans-Atlantic submarine cable in Senegal, with opportunities to extend the infrastructure to Mali.

Local newspaper This Day quotes the Nigerian firm’s chairman Mike Adenuga Jr as saying that the licence would enable his company to offer ‘world class telecommunications services’ to the government and people of Senegal. ‘In line with our vision, Glo will continue to play a major role in stimulating a new era of prosperity in the sub-continent and build facilities that will offer Africa advanced telecoms services such as teleconferencing, distance learning, disaster recovery, telemedicine, on-line diagnosis and video conferencing during surgery and research,’ Globacom added in a statement.

The Nigerian company also holds operating licences in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic and Cote d'Ivoire, but as reported recently, has threatened to exit the Ghanaian market citing sabotage as the reason.

MNP To Begin In Nigeria During H2

Nigeria's tele­coms regulator, Nigerian Com- munications Com- mission (NCC) has confirmed that the delayed Mobile Number Portability will be introduced in the second-half of this year, confirming earlier statements about the issue.

Mr. Stephen Bello, the acting vice-chairman of the Commission, told IT News Africa that  it had become necessary to introduce MNP because of the high telecom subscriber base in the country.

Mr. Earnest Ndukwe, former CEO of NCC, had set May 2009 as the date for the announcement of a timetable for MNP takeoff. On the mode of implementation, he said that the NCC would engage the services of an independent company to oversee the process. He also revealed that the local operators were on board and ready.

Earlier this year, the NCC retained the services of KPMG Consultancy Services as consultants for the development of Regulatory and Technical Framework for implementation of number portability in Nigeria.

According to figures from the Mobile World analysts, the country ended last year with 73 million mobile subscribers, representing a population penetration level of 50%. The market shares of the operators are: MTN Nigeria (42.2%), Glo Mobile (22.5%), Zain (20.2%), Etisalat Nigeria (4.7%), Visafone (3.7%), Multi-Links Telecommunications (2.7%), Starcomms (2.3%) and Reliance Telecommunications (1.7%)

Glo Fails to Glow In Ghana?

Ghanaian start-up Glo Mobile Ghana is considering pulling out of the country, the Daily Graphic quotes an unnamed ‘authoritative source’ at the company as saying. The would-be operator, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nigeria-based Globacom which is itself majority owned by Nigerian petrochemical firm Conpetro, a venture of the entrepreneur Mike Adenuga, says it faces significant challenges from ‘interests’ seemingly hell-bent on sabotaging its nationwide launch plans.

The unnamed source told the paper that since Glo Mobile was awarded its GSM frequencies by the National Communications Authority (NCA), it has faced obstacles in terms of seeking approval for the swift deployment of its base stations, an encroachment on the frequencies it was awarded by the NCA and the repeated vandalism of its advertising billboards.

The cellco’s officials claim that its efforts to effect a speedy rollout have been undermined by ‘some forces’ which have been ‘deliberately working around the clock to cripple its operation and prevent it from rolling out quickly, to the detriment of the Ghanaian society’.

Ghana Halts Issuing of New Licences

Ghana’s telecoms regulator the National Communications Authority (NCA) has made public that going forward, it will not issue any new operating licences to new players, the Business Guide reports.

NCA director general Bernard Forson made the announcement to parliament last week, during a Public Accounts Committee scrutiny into the regulator’s audited report for 2005. Explaining the decision, Forson said that the country’s limited spectrum resources had already been allocated to the country’s six incumbent mobile operators, and therefore there was no room for market entrants.

Although Glo Mobile has yet to launch its operation, the other licensed cellcos - MTN, Vodafone, Zain, Tigo and Kasapa – are said to be ‘competing fervently for customers’. Despite the apparent lockdown, the director general did say that there was room for new companies wishing to offer data-only services which, Forson noted, would help to drive up the proliferation of the internet in Ghana.

Nigeria Probes Nitel Bidders

Nigerian news source This Day reports that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has inaugurated a committee to undertake further due diligence on the bidders of ailing incumbent telco Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), rather than approve a USD2.5 billion bid submitted by preferred buyer New Generation Telecommunications last month. Acting president and NCP chairman, Goodluck Jonathon, has also tasked the seven-member panel with investigating allegations of financial impropriety surrounding the sale process. The committee has been given one week to submit its report to the NCP.

The government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of its mobile unit M-Tel in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year. After much delay, financial bids opened on 16 February 2010, but only six of the 14 pre-qualified consortia met the 5 February deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals: Brymedia; AF21/Spectrum consortium; MTN Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria; Omen International; and New Generation Telecommunications. After announcing New Generation as the preferred buyer, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) revealed that the company was backed by China Unicom, a claim that was quickly denied by the Chinese company, which insisted that its involvement only extended to an interest in offering technical and managerial support.

Minerva Group Backs Nitel Consortium

News agency Reuters reports that Dubai’s Minerva Group is the main financial backer of New Generation Technology, a consortium selected last week as the preferred buyer for ailing incumbent telco Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) with a bid of USD2.5 billion. After revealing the results of the bidding process, Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced that New Generation was a consortium involving China Unicom, Minerva and local firm GiCell, but the Chinese company was quick to deny any involvement in the bid. GiCell’s managing director, Usman Gumi, told Reuters that China Unicom’s involvement only extended to an interest in offering technical and managerial support. ‘We have a firm commitment from our investors and partners, the Minerva Group, that we are working with. We did not pull all this out of the air,’ Gumi said in a telephone interview, adding, ‘We believe NITEL is worth the amount because of the infrastructure and potential that it has.’

The Nigerian government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of its mobile unit M-Tel in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year. Prospective investors were invited to acquire either at least 75% equity in the entire NITEL conglomerate or a stake in one or several of its components, including M-Tel, submarine fibre-optic cable division SAT-3, the company’s domestic fixed line infrastructure, its national fibre-optic transmission backbone, and its CDMA network. Financial bids opened on 16 February 2010, but only six of the 14 pre-qualified consortia met the 5 February deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals: Brymedia; AF21/Spectrum consortium; MTN Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria; Omen International; and New Generation Telecommunications.

China Unicom Consortium Wins Nitel Bid

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced that New Generation Telecommunications, a consortium involving China Unicom, has become the preferred buyer for indebted incumbent fixed line operator Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), after beating four other firms with a bid of USD2.5 billion. Other companies with an interest in New Generation have been named by the BPE as Dubai-based Minerva Group and local company GiCell Wireless.

After the bid is approved by the privatisation council, the group will have ten days to pay 30% of the purchase price and a further 50 days to pay the remaining sum. The reserve bidder has been announced as Omen International (BVI), which offered USD956 million.

Financial bids for the privatisation of NITEL opened on 16 February 2010, but only six of the 14 pre-qualified consortia met the 5 February deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals: Brymedia; AF21/Spectrum consortium; MTN Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria; Omen International; and New Generation Telecommunications.

The federal government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of its mobile unit M-Tel in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year. Prospective investors were invited to acquire either at least 75% equity in the entire NITEL conglomerate or a stake in one or several of its components, including M-Tel, submarine fibre-optic cable division SAT-3, the company’s domestic fixed line infrastructure, its national fibre-optic transmission backbone, and its CDMA network.

South Africa's MTN was among the bidders, but only for a stake in the SAT-3 underwater cable, for which it offered USD25 million. According to local daily Leadership, Globacom was disqualified from the process as it already holds a licence as Nigeria’s second national carrier.

Glo Launch Date In Ghana Not Certain

Ghana’s Minister of Communications Haruna Iddrisu says the government is doing all it can to ensure mobile newcomer Globacom can launch commercial operations on 6 March 2010, the nation’s Independence Day.

Iddrisu said he had taken it upon himself to order the telecoms regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the National Bureau of Communications and Globacom’s appointed equipment supplier, ZTE Corporation of China, to ensure that everything was in place to allow Globacom to use the necessary 800MHz spectrum within 14 days.

However, sources close to the start-up suggest the firm is not looking to start operations next month. A report in ghanabusinessnews.com quotes an unnamed person familiar with the situation as saying only that the company was planning to launch its services this year.

Nigeria To Open NITEL Bids On 16 February

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced that it will open financial bids for the privatisation of incumbent fixed line operator Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) and its mobile arm M-Tel on 16 February 2010, local newspaper This Day reports.

According to the BPE, only six of the 14 pre-qualified consortia met the 5 February deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals, and will therefore be able to submit bids for the minimum 75% stake. The successful candidates are: Brymedia; AF21/Spectrum consortium; MTN Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria; Omen International; and New Generation Telecommunications (formerly known as Telefonica Consortium).

The federal government began seeking a buyer for a minimum 75% of NITEL and 100% of its mobile unit in July 2009 after previous majority shareholder Transcorp divested its stake earlier in the year. The original deadline for the submission of technical and financial bids was 2 October 2009, but this was pushed back to 26 October due to the complexity of the process, and then again to 5 February 2010 to allow for additional time for prospective investors to conclude due diligence.

Prospective investors are invited to acquire either at least 75% equity in the entire NITEL conglomerate or a stake in one or several of its components, including M-Tel, submarine fibre-optic cable division SAT-3, the company’s domestic fixed line infrastructure, its national fibre-optic transmission backbone, and its CDMA network.

Fraudsters in Nigeria Resort to Phones

Fraudsters are now having a field day duping innocent Nigerians through internet and mobile phones, Daily Trust investigation reveals.

Many Nigerians who spoke to Daily Trust confirmed that they use to receive one or two such mails every month.

Some of the massage they circulate through Short Massage Services (SMS) read: "N1 million has been rewarded to you in the MTN 2009 rewards. Your code is 15rpz. Visit www. mtngameshow.net.ms before 24hr for confirmation, sender MTN NIGERIA".

"Glo with pride! You have won N525,000 of d Glo February promo, ur num. Was among d 40 lucky winners and ur tic. G2 pls call cash office 4 claims on 08053513287, sender 08054559796"

Daily Trust gathered that all what the fraudster are asking is ATM details such as PIN and Number.

Speaking to one of the fraudster on phone, our reporter was asked to send his ATM details and the name of his bank for him to claims prize.

When contacted by our reporter both MTN and Glo disowned such massages, calling them '419ERS'.

Also Zain in a text massages to its customers warned that " please ignore any SMS telling you that you have won N1m and asking you to log on to www.zainnigeria.net.ms for your winning prize. This is not from Zain"

The telecoms regulator, Nigerians Communications Commission recently moved to enforce the operators to register SIM as part of the efforts to reduce scam in the country.

Another means by which the fraudsters exploit to rip-off Nigerians is through sending mails to many email addresses asking people to upgrade their ATM cards online.

One of the scam emails they use is 'Interswitch Nigeria' in which they asked recipients to urgently upgrade their ATM details otherwise they stand the risk of getting their ATM cards been blocked.

Daily Trust learnt that as soon as you reply such mails your card details will be hijacked and they will remove what ever remains in your account.

Some banks have already places warning notice informing their customers about such scams, saying that customers should disregards such mails.

Aso Savings, Abuja urged customers to "please disregard any website or SMS that asks u to update your banking/ATM card details online. No bank will ask you to for PIN online. Always protect your PIN".

Another massages from the bank read: "Don't reveal your PIN to anyone. Its your signature protect it".

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Meanwhile, Zain Nigeria has denied sending text messages to its subscribers with a reward package of N1m, Punch newspaper reports.

The company in a text message to its subscribers on Saturday, read, “Dear customer, please ignore any SMS telling you that you have won N1m and asking you to log to www.zainnigeria.net.ms for your winnings. This is not from Zain.”

Zain Nigeria’s official website is: www.ng.zain.com

As a fraud alert, the company had stated on its website that, “In view of somewhat regular fraudulent messages being sent out on redeeming gifts in purported Zain promotions, we would like you to take note of the following information to prevent our esteemed subscribers from falling victim of these fraudsters:

Subscribers will be contacted only through the following ways:

“SMS from ‘Zain’; Phone call from 08021900000 or Zain staff line having the prefix 0802222****; Information of winners published on our website or in the press.

Communication to winners via SMS will always have Zain as the originator ID.”

According to the telecoms company, “We will never request that subscriber’s part with any belonging in order to redeem prizes (either in form of cash or forwarding of messages to other subscribers).

“We strongly advise our customers to always verify the authenticity of any suspicious/alleged text or email supposedly from Zain and relating to any bonanza, promotions or offer by calling our customer service on 111 or send an email to the subscriber fraud unit - fraudmanagement@ng.celtel.com or call 070800FRAUD.”

Nigerian Mobile Market in Full Throttle

The Nigerian mobile market’s bullish growth showed no signs of abating in Q4 08. Quarterly net additions of 7.15m took the total number of customers over 60m, with a year-end figure of 62.99m, while the annual gain stood at 22.59m. By comparison, Q4 07 saw an increase of 3.39m and the 2007 boost was 11.92m. Meanwhile, the latest figures from Nigerian regulator the NCC show that at the end of January the total had risen to 64.16m.

There are now four mobile CDMA networks operating in Nigeria, and they contributed significantly to the quarterly gain. On aggregate, they added 1.93m customers in Q4, only just behind the record gain of 2.01m recorded in the previous quarter. This took the total mobile CDMA customer base over 6m with an end-2008 total of 6.05m, although the NCC’s figures show that there was a net loss in January which took the base back down to 5.87m. In terms of individual operators’ performances in Q4 08, Visafone overtook Multi-Links during the quarter with an excellent figure of 0.98m net additions. It finished on 2.21m compared to 1.99m for Multi-Links, which added 0.51m in the quarter. Meanwhile, Starcomms added 0.36m to break the 1m barrier, finishing on 1.16m, and Reliance reached 0.70m in its second quarter of operation.

Of course, the CDMA market remains a relatively minor part of the total, with less than 10% of Nigerian mobile customers at the end of 2008. The market leader is MTN, which recorded a gain of 2.91m – a Nigerian record. It finished on 23.08m, almost 6m ahead of nearest rival Celtel which ended the year with 17.20m customers. Having seized second place from Glo Mobile in Q3 08, Celtel consolidated its lead in Q4, adding 1.29m customers compared to 0.63m for Glo, which finished the year on just over 16m. The two remaining networks in Nigeria are government-owned Nitel, which had 0.26m customers, and the new Etisalat/Mubadala-owned entrant, which managed to gain almost 0.4m customers in its first quarter of service.

On a proportionate basis, the total market grew by 55.9% in 2008, up from 41.9% in 2007. Amongst the top three operators, Celtel led the way with 55.0% growth, ahead of MTN (39.8%) and Glo (30.9%).

Glo Mobile Blames Environment Body for Delay in Ghana Roll-out

Ghana's newest mobile network operator, Glo Mobile has complained that it is suffering problems in rolling out its network due to delays in securing permission from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to install its towers.

Glo Mobile is owned by Nigeria's Globalcom and was awarded a GSM operator license last June.

Mr Idowu Olumodeji, Head of Technical-Rollout at Glo, told the Ghana News Agency that the company had had to push back deadlines several times because the EPA had not issued permits for masts. He noted that to date Glo Mobile had submitted over 500 applications for permits to mount masts and other infrastructure in most of the regional capitals, but EPA was yet to issue a single permit.

Mr Olumodeji, who sounded frustrated, said Glo had asked EPA not to wait for all the applications to be complete but to issue permits for those which were complete but the EPA had not been co-operative on that either.

Mr Olumodeji said Glo had millions of dollars worth of equipment sitting at its warehouse waiting to be deployed - as soon as the EPA issues the permits.

For its part, the EPA has only just completed a draft document on the rules for installing base station towers in the country. The document, seen by the GNA calls for more use of co-location on towers to curb their spread - and will ask the telecoms regulator to make co-location mandatory where viable.

“The telecom operators are quick to blame the permit agencies like EPA for the poor quality service. Meanwhile they have not been able to take a single action on co-location since they started discussions on it years now,” said Mr Ebenezer K. Appiah-Sampong, Director of Environmental Assessment and Auditor of the EPA.

The country already has five operators, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, the country had 11.3 million customers at the end of last year. That figure equates to a population penetration level of just 48%.

The five operators (and market share) are: MTN (57%), Tigo (25.7%), Ghana Telecom (14.4%), Kasapa Telecom (2.8%) & Westel that was acquired by Zain (2.4%)

Nigeria Mobile Users Up by 55.9%, Hit 63m mark

Nigeria's mobile subscriber base reached 62.99 million at the end of 2008, up 55.9 percent annually. The country's regulator, the NCC said on a quarterly basis, net additions stood at 7.15 million, only just short of the national record of 7.38 million, set in Q2 2008.

According to the regulator, market leader MTN had 23.08 million customers at the end of the year, after having seen a quarterly increase of 2.91 million. In second place, Zain had just under 17.2 million customers. It overtook Glo Mobile in the third quarter last year, due to the latter's loss of customers. In the fourth quarter, Zain posted a net gain of 1.29 million customers, more than double Glo's additions of 0.63 million. At the end of the year, Glo had just over 16 million customers.

With 2.21 million customers at the end of the year, Visafone was the largest CDMA operator in the country and the fourth largest network operator overall. It added 0.98 million customers in the quarter, only its fourth of commercial mobile service.

Meanwhile, Multi-Links added 0.51 million to finish at 1.99 million customers, Starcomms gained 0.36 million to 1.16 million and Reliance added 0.07 million to finish on 0.70 million in its second quarter of operation. The CDMA sector totals 6.05 million customers. The country also counted another 1.31 million fixed wireless lines.