Nigeria’s dormant, newly branded telco Ntel is reportedly in talks with bankers and investors about raising more than US$1bn to invest in mobile broadband by 2020. Kamar Abass, CEO of Ntel, which is preparing to launch a new 4G LTE network, said the company is discussing the fundraising with parties “interested in a growth story for Africa”.
Nigeria’s dormant, newly branded telco Ntel is reportedly in talks with bankers and investors about raising more than US$1bn to invest in mobile broadband by 2020.
Kamar Abass, CEO of Ntel, which is preparing to launch a new 4G LTE network, said the company is discussing the fundraising with parties “interested in a growth story for Africa”, Bloomberg reported. He added that the country is just starting to move from a voice-focused telecoms market to a mobile broadband one.
Ntel’s investment target includes the US$252m that Natcom Consortium paid to acquire state-owned fixed-line provider Nitel and its mobile arm Mtel. The privatization, completed in April 2015, followed a guided liquidation process supervised and approved by Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises and a High Court-appointed liquidator.
Natcom committed to making Nitel and Mtel, which had been crushed by debt, operational again within three years.
Natcom reportedly comprises Natspace Telecommunication Investment, Hong Kong’s PCCW, Prime Union Investment, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services, Sahara Energy Resources, Legal Resources Alliance & Co, plus technical partner Ericsson Nigeria.
Ntel plans to initially launch services in three of the country’s largest cities – Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. It has not specified a launch date, but local media have put it at 8 April.
The company, which is inviting prospective customers to reserve numbers, said that additional cities would be served over time and that it aims to cover 85% of mobile broadband spending within three years and some 95% within five years.
Ntel will compete with Nigeria’s four existing GSM operators. South Africa-based MTN is the market leader with a 41% share as of January 2016, according to NCC figures. Airtel and Globacom each have a 22% share, while the smallest player, Etisalat, has a 15% share.
Nigeria had some 149 million active phone lines as of January, according to the NCC, equal to a penetration rate of 108.11%.
Ntel was not immediately available for comment.