Libya To Dispose of Stake in Phone Companies

­The Libyan government has announced plans to sell small stakes in the country's two mobile phone networks as part of a wider plan to sell off state owned corporations. The IPOs will offer shares in the government's two mobile telephone operators, al Madar and Libyana, as well as in Iron and Steel Company and National Commercial Bank.

 

The government also announced details of tax breaks to make trading on the local stock exchange more appealing to investors.

"The trading volume remains small because we are still at the start, but I expect that with new regulations ... the Libyan stock market will become one of the most active in North Africa and the Arab region," Seleem Naas, chairman of Libyan brokerage Sarab Foreign Exchange and Financial Services told the Reuters news agency.

Earlier this year, Etisalat said it had submitted a bid for Libya's third mobile phone license, although nothing further has been heard.

 

According to figures from the Mobile World, Libyana is the dominant operator with 83% of the market, followed by Al Madar. The country has a population penetration level of 134%.

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MTN NIgeria Plans to Cut 65 Jobs

MTN Nigeria has announced plans to cut 65 jobs of which the majority are from the company's customer care division. One of the redundancies affects a manager who was already suspended from work. The company said that job cuts followed an internal performance review of the staff affected.
 

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Smiles Launches as Uganda's Seventh Phone Operator

Smiles Communications Uganda has launched its WiMAX network in the capital city of Kampala, with plans to cover the entire country by the end of next year.

'We bring to the Ugandan market a WiMAX platform that uses voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to make calls, the first of its kind on the African continent,' the company's CEO, Mr. Philip said.

Mr. Phillip said the firm would begin with wireless table phones that would be located in public places including markets, taxis and bus parks. 'We are informed of how the competitors operate and we are going for the bottom of the pyramid business,' he told the Daily Monitor.

The other operators in Uganda are MTN, Orange Uganda, Uganda Telecom, Warid Telecom, Zain and the recently launched I-Telecom.

NITEL Sale To Be Concluded In January

Director general of Nigeria's Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr Christopher Anyanwu, has stated that the sale of ailing incumbent telco Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) to a new core investor will be concluded by January 2010, local newspaper Daily Trust reports.

He added that those companies that have submitted a bid for the operator are currently undertaking due diligence on its facilities. In early October the BPE extended the deadline for the submission of technical and financial bids from 2 October to 26 October due to the complexity of the process.

The winning bidder was expected to be announced on 9 November. However, the 60-day deadline set by the federal government for the completion of the sale was not met due to the difficulties experienced by foreign investors to get visas to visit the country and assess the operator's assets.

Vavasi To Continue To Pursue Stake In Zain

Despite reports that Indian state-owned firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) have withdrawn from talks to join an investment group looking to buy a stake in Zain Group, consortium leader Vavasi has revealed that the group will still invite the telcos to partake in the due diligence process.

 

Vavasi managing director, Farid Afruddin, said: 'We are going to do the due diligence on Zain Telecom from next week. We will write to BSNL and MTNL to take part in the process along with us… We are keeping our options open.' If the two companies decline Vavasi's invitation, the investment group is expected to look for new partners to help fund the bid for a 46% stake in the Kuwaiti mobile group.

 

Mauritius Hopes To Raise USD50 million From MT Sale

The Mauritian Finance Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen has, in his budget speech, said the government hopes to raise MUR1.5 billion (USD50 million) from the listing of the nation's largest telco, Mauritius Telecom (MT).

 

'While the fiscal deficit for 2010 is projected at 4.5%, government borrowing requirement will only be 4% of GDP. This is mainly due to the sale proceeds of Mauritius Telecom shares which is expected to raise at least 1.5 billion rupees,' Reuters quotes the minister as saying. The government sold a 40% stake in its national operator to France Telecom (Orange) in 2000 and retains a 60% stake along with the State Bank of Mauritius.

 

MT reported post-tax profits of MUR1.9 billion (USD51 million) in 2008, down 5% year-on-year, on the back of increased interest payments, but confirmed its plans to list on the Indian Ocean island's stock exchange. Full year turnover climbed 6.5% to MUR6.8 billion in 2008, driven by 12% growth at its mobile unit Cellplus Mobile Communications.

 

In May 2008 the government of Mauritius imposed new taxes on local phone firms, including a 5% levy on profits and 1.5% on revenues as part of a wider plan to keep the budget deficit in check. MT had planned to list last year but postponed the event in the wake of the global credit crunch. At the time it stopped short of providing a date for the listing, although its chairman Thomas Appalsamy confirmed it was still on. 'The company has completed its due diligence exercise and now shareholders are working on the price and the number of shares that will be floated on the Stock Exchange,' he said in June 2009.

Paltel cancels Zain Deal

Palestine Telecommunication Co (Paltel) has announced that it has canceled a deal which would have seen Kuwait-based telecom group Zain take gain a majority stake in the Palestinian operator, Reuters reports.

Paltel claimed that commitments made as part of the deal had not been fulfilled within the agreed time frame, although it declined to provide details on what these commitments were.

Zain has confirmed that the plug has been pulled on the acquisition, although it claimed that its inability to secure the required government approvals was the reason for the deal’s cancellation, although again no further details were provided as to what these approvals were or why they had not been granted.

The two companies announced the deal back in May 2009, with Zain agreeing to take a 56.53% stake in Paltel. Under the terms of the agreement the two companies entered into a share-for-share exchange, which would have seen Zain take the majority stake in Paltel in exchange for Paltel taking 100% ownership of Zain Jordan; the merger would have set Paltel shareholders’ equity position in both Paltel and its newly acquired subsidiary at 41.43%.

SEACOM Disappointed By South Africa Response

Submarine cable operator SEACOM has revealed that it has been disappointed by a lack of take-up in South Africa following the launch of the 15,000km, 1.28Tbps cable system in July 2009, MyBroadband.co.za reports. Company spokesman, Suveer Ramdhani, revealed that of the full SEACOM design capacity, ten wavelengths have been lit, supplying 100Gbps of bandwidth.

 

The company believes take-up has been slow as anticipated price decreases brought about by the arrival of SEACOM have to a large extent not been realised; with the advantages of added bandwidth being slow to filter through to consumers.

 

Ramdhani said: 'The limiting factor is backhaul. There are those on the consumer side that want bandwidth, and there is us on the undersea side that want to give it – we just cannot seem to connect. It is kind of disappointing… The people who are willing to reduce prices in the market do not necessarily have their own access network. It really comes down to our channels to the market. The big boys that have direct access to customers, and have access to the national backhaul, need to start dropping their prices as well. Whilst there is some competition in the national leg, with Broadband Infraco and Neotel coming online, there is a lot of capital being pumped in, the price reductions that come with that national backhaul will only emerge a few years later.'

 

Ramdhani also criticised the lack of local access provision, adding: 'The other major point is the access network… Even if you do solve national backhaul bottlenecks, how do you actually get to the consumer in his house or office? Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) is still many years away. These issues need to be addressed before consumers really begin to see the benefits of the cable initiatives.'

Tigo Launches As Rwanda's Third Operator

Luxembourg-based telecoms group Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has launched mobile services in Rwanda under the Tigo banner, becoming the country's third wireless operator.

 

'We are here to compete. We want to increase penetration and accessibility to telephone services that are affordable,' commented Alex Camara, chief executive of the company. MIC won the tender for a 15-year wireless licence with a bid of USD60 million in November 2008, beating competition from Telecel Globe, Zain and Larrycom-Expresso.

 

The company has invested over USD100 million in the rollout of a 2G/W-CDMA/HSDPA network across around 13 districts of the central African country. Tigo joins two other cellcos in the market: MTN of South Africa, which had a market share of around 79% at 30 September 2009; and Rwandatel, which is owned by Libyan government investment vehicle LAP Green Networks (80%) and the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (20%) and launched commercial GSM/W-CDMA services in December 2008.

Tunisia's Hannibal Cable Goes Live

Tunisie Telecom has inaugurated its first wholly owned submarine fibre-optic cable, known as 'Hannibal.' With an initial capacity of 40Gbps, expandable to 3,200Gbps, the cable, which connects Kelibia to the Italian city of Mazara, runs 180km and has been built at a cost of TND16 million (USD12.6 million).

Libya's LAP Green Secures U$300 Million Loan For African Assets

Libyan investment company LAP Green has signed a USD300 million loan agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to allow it to fund capital expenditure in its telecoms investments in Uganda, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Niger and Togo.

 

The USD300 million is part of the USD10 billion that China has pledged to lend Africa in low interest loans.

NITEL Sale Date Could Be Extended Again Over Visa Delays

According to Nigerian news source NEXT, the deadline for the sale of ailing incumbent telco Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) looks set to be extended further, due to the inability of foreign investors to get visas to visit the country and assess the operator's assets.

 

Earlier this year the federal government gave the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) 60 working days to find a buyer for the company, but the 17 November deadline looks set to pass without a sale taking place. BPE spokesperson, Chigbo Anichebe, told NEXT that the delay is not a major issue for the bureau, which would rather see the process carried out thoroughly and the right investor found. Rather it is the government that is pushing for a quicker sale due to the depreciating value of NITEL and increasing competition in the telecoms market.

 

In early October the BPE extended the deadline for the submission of technical and financial bids from 2 October to 26 October due to the complexity of the process. The winning bidder was expected to be announced on 9 November.

Gabon Orders Azur To Suspend Its Service For Three Weeks

Gabon's Minister of Communication, Laure Olga Gondjout, has met with Ibrahim Alkharboush, Executive Director of Bintel, the Middle Eastern owner of the African country's newest mobile operator, USAN Gabon (branded 'Azur'), following which a statement was released which apparently orders the newcomer to suspend its operations for three weeks while it fully complies with regulations.

 

The text of the statement included the following: 'This meeting enabled both sides to better suit the regulatory [conditions] of the mobile [market] in Gabon... In recent weeks, Azur made a brilliant and equally thunderous entrance into the Gabonese market. However, all conditions... are not completely satisfied. For that to happen, the government of Gabon has temporarily suspended Azur so that the operator complies fully and honourably [with] the specifications.' The statement did not say which specific regulations have not been complied with.

TelOne Awaits Funds To Expand WiLL

Zimbabwe's national PTO TelOne is 'at an advanced stage' in its plans to expand its coverage of CDMA-based wireless in the local loop (WiLL) services countrywide, but can only proceed when the necessary funds become available.

 

TelOne has already begun expanding CDMA network coverage from Harare's central business district to high-density suburbs of the capital, but TelOne spokesperson Colin Wilbesi says the state-run operator faces 'financial challenges' if it is to increase the footprint further.

 

'Plans to expand the product to other parts of the country are at an advanced stage. However, due to financial limitations the rollout of the programme has been limited to the capital for now. As soon as funds are available, other parts of the country will be included in the rollout programme,' Wilbesi said, without specifying how much money was required or a likely timeframe.

 

Early this year the telco revealed that it required a total of more than USD270 million to upgrade its national fixed network, including the completion of a cross-country fibre-optic backbone.

 

Essar Buys Warid In Congo and Uganda

India's Essar Group has agreed to buy majority stakes in the Dhabi Group's telecoms businesses in Uganda and Congo, Warid Telecom Uganda and Warid Congo. 'The Essar Group has committed growth capital to both telecoms operations to facilitate network expansion and marketing. Upon completion, the Essar Group will acquire a majority stake in both the assets. The partnership is also expected to bring operational efficiencies to the African operations,' the company said in a statement.

 

Warid Telecom Uganda was awarded Public Infrastructure Provision (PIP) and Public Service Provision (PSP) licences in December 2006. On receipt of the concessions, Warid immediately announced plans to roll out a GSM-based network, adding that it would invest USD200 million in its network to give it capacity for 1.5 million subscribers and coverage of 70% of the population.

 

Test calls were completed in September 2007 and the network was launched in February the following year on a pre-paid-only basis. Within three days of launch the company claimed to have signed up 150,000 customers and by the end of December the figure had increased to 1.3 million. Meanwhile in the Republic of Congo Warid has invested around USD90 million and has some 300,000 customers.

Angola To Complete Southern Fibre Network By Year End

The installation of fibre-optic cable links across Angola's southern provinces of Huila, Namibe, Kuando Kubango and Cunene is on target for completion by the end of this year, according to Angola Telecom's regional director, Manuel Octavio.

 

Speaking to news provider Angop, Octavio said that fibre links between Namibe and Huila are complete, adding that the company's technicians are doing their best to reach Kuando Kubango and Cunene by the end of this year, to provide better quality, high speed communications with cheaper prices.