The privatization of defunct Nigeria Telecommunicatios Company (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL) by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has turned out to be a success.
A new telecommunications company is set to be launched in March in three major cities in Nigeria – Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.
The chairman of the Natcom Development & Investment limited, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni ha announced that the company has concluded plans to kick off operations.
Ayeni, in a presentation to the House of Representatives joint committees on communication as well as that of commercialization and privatization in Abuja, said that the firm will provide 4,000 jobs in the roll-out plan.
He told the committees that the sum of $1 billion has so far been injected into the revival of NITEL and its sister company, Mtel acquired by NATCOM under guided liquidation.
Following the biddings in 2014, Natcom became the preferred bidder for NITEL and its mobile telecommunications arm after the National Council on Privatisation approved the sale in the value of $252.251m.
For kickoff, NATCOM would offer 4G/LTE services to address 3G customers’ needs for mobile broadband services. Recall NITEL/MTEL shut down operational services in 2005 following a failed bidding process.
