- Targets 4,000 jobs by March 2016
By Damilola Oyedele in Abuja รข€¨
About $1 billion has already been expended on the revival of Nigerian
Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its sister company, Mobile
Telecommunication Limited (Mtel), which were recently acquired by NATCOM
Development and Investment Limited from the Nigeria Telecommunications
Limited (NITEL).
The injected funds and other efforts would see the company engage 4,000
employees by March, as it sets to roll out its mobile lines, and 4G/LTE
services for broadband users.
The Chairman of NATCOM, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni, revealed these during a presentation before the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Communication and Privatisation, where he added that the firm’s services would be rolled out on Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt before expanding to other parts of the country.
The Chairman of NATCOM, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni, revealed these during a presentation before the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Communication and Privatisation, where he added that the firm’s services would be rolled out on Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt before expanding to other parts of the country.
He disclosed that the initial financial bid was increased to $252.251
million from $221 million when juxtaposed with the liquidator’s
reserved price of $256 million.
NATCOM acquired assets and licences of NITEL and MTEL, percentage interest held in South-Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) consortium, and identifiable assets capable of generating viable business units.
NATCOM acquired assets and licences of NITEL and MTEL, percentage interest held in South-Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) consortium, and identifiable assets capable of generating viable business units.
“NATCOM’s full submission was duly made to NITEL/MTEL’s liquidator and
Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises on November 7, 2014. NATCOM’s
submission was accompanied by a bid bond in the amount of $10 million as
stipulated in the liquidator’s RFP,” he said.
He disclosed that $10 million had been spent on SAT-3 system, quarterly dues to the consortium, system expansion and upgrade since the acquisition, adding that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had assigned another set of microwave frequency ranges to NATCOM upon request for N176.8 million, computed on the basis of 800 bases station network in the first instance.
He disclosed that $10 million had been spent on SAT-3 system, quarterly dues to the consortium, system expansion and upgrade since the acquisition, adding that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had assigned another set of microwave frequency ranges to NATCOM upon request for N176.8 million, computed on the basis of 800 bases station network in the first instance.
NATCOM was requested to pay an additional N6.6 billion to bridge the
shortfall of the value of the Naira to the Dollar from N168 to N197,
after the payment of the first installment of 30 per cent of the bid
price within 14 days of approval by the National Council on
Privatisation (NCP) and balance within the 90 days, Ayeni said.
