Metro
FG hands over NITEL carcass to NACTOM
After fourteen years and five failed attempts to sell the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the Federal Government on Tuesday finally handed over the beleaguered company and its subsidiary, Mtel to a new core investor, NATCOM Consortium.
NATCOM took over after the full payment of $252,521,000 (about N42. 4 b) bid price to acquire the assets and business units of the nation’s premier telecommunications company.
NATCOM Chairman, Dr. Tunde Ayeni, who received the operational licenses of the two companies on behalf of his consortium, said that the team would work towards investing about $ 1 billion, with a view to providing Nigerian subscribers first-class rated services.
His words, “the task ahead is enormous. As you know, what we are taking over is the carcass of what used to be NITEL/MTEL; advancement in technology has made it imperative for us to start from the scratch in rolling out services; and as you aware, over 130 million subscribers are already in the kitty of the existing service providers.
A member of the technical committee of National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Mr. Emmanuel Amadi who represented, Vice President Namadi Sambo at the handing over ceremony, said immense gaps and opportunities still exist in the Nigerian telecommunications market despite the competition in the industry.
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