NITEL/Mtel buyer to begin operation in March, sets to roll out 4G LTE services

The owner of Nigeria’s foremost telecommunications provider, Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, Natcom, has said that it will roll out its lines beginning from March this year in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Natcom became the preferred bidder for NITEL and its mobile telecommunications arm, Mtel, in 2014 after the National Council on Privatisation approved the sale in the value of $252.251m.

The Chairman of Natcom Development and InvestmentLimited, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni, in a presentation to the House of Representatives in Abuja, said that as much as 4,000 jobs would be created in the roll-out plan.

The House had last year, queried the sale of NITEL/Mtel in the latest deal, which came after many previous failed attempts to sell the struggling company.

The House had argued that NITEL, with its huge assets,was worth more than the price it was sold and ordered an investigation into the transaction.

It directed its Committee on Commercialisation and Privatisation toinvestigate the transaction.In Natcom’s presentation to the committee, which The PUNCH obtained on Sunday, the chairman said the firm would offer 4G/LTE services to address 3G customers’ needs for mobile broadband services.

Ayeni claimed that up to $1bn had been injected into the revival of the former NITEL/Mtel since the acquisition took place.Ayeni told the committee that with the acquisition of NITEL/Mtel, Natcom gained access to 40MHz of 900/1800MHz spectrum that was previously used to provide 2G/GSM voice services.

He added that the assets NITEL/Mtel acquired includedthe licenses and percentage interest held in South-Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) consortium “as well as identifiable assets capable of generating viable business units.”

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