The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NITEL/MTEL

  • NATCOM takes over NITEL/Mtel

    NATCOM takes over NITEL/Mtel

    •Promises good service delivery

    The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) yesterday handed over the assets of the  Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (Nitel) and its mobile arm, the Mobile Telecommunications Mtel  to the core investor, NATCOM.

    After receiving the certificate for the ownership for national carrier and Gateway License of Nitel and the Mtel  Spectrum, the NATCOM Consortium Chairman, Dr. John Olatunde Ayeni promised that the firm “will bring a brand that will delight the Nigerian customers and market.”

    The CEO, who spoke in Abuja said: “A new player and a new entity is entering the telecom industry today  and a new brand and a strong brand has come.”

    He said the firm is of the belief that there is a vacuum in the telecommunications market and the vacuum is the space that NATCOM’s unique brand would fill.

    Filling the vacuum entails “listening to the customers and delighting them with what they need,”he said,   promising that his group has resolved to make the customer the king.

    Vice President Namadi Sambo, who is also the NCP chairman, told the chequred history  of  Nitel and Mtel before its final  privatisation to NATCOM .

    He recalled that in 2001, the strategic core investor sale of 51 per cent shareholding of Nitel to International London Limited (IILL) was unsuccessful.

    He noted that in 2005, there was also a failed management contract by Pentascope with and aborted Orascom Telecoms bid in the same year.

    Sambo said there was the strategic core investor sale, through negotiated sale strategy, to Transcorp which was cancelled in 2009.

    In 2011, according to him, there was the strategic core investor sale, where New Generation Communications Limited and Omen International Limited emerged as preferred bidders.

    On NATCOM, the Vice President explained that NCP approved the privatisation through a Guided Liquidation Strategy through a competitive bid process.

    He stressed that two bidders submitted their technical and financial proposals after which NATCOM met met the technical requirement.

    Sambo said that “Its financial proposal was publicly opened on October 24, 2014. The first bid was $221million which was below the reserved price. After a second round of bidding, the revised bid of $252,221,000 was above the reserve price. NATCOM was therefore declared the preferred bidder.”

    He urged stakeholders to see the privatisation as a necessary tool for the deregulation and opening up of hitherto government dominated sectors of the economy to the private sector as well as divestures of government’s interest in such sectors.

  • FG hands over Nitel/Mtel to NATCOM

    FG hands over Nitel/Mtel to NATCOM

    The federal government on Thursday approved the handover of Nitel/Mtel facilities to NATCOM.

    Deputy Chairman, National Council on Privatization (NCP) Technical Committee, Haruna Sambo, made the disclosure after the NCP meeting chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa.

    According to him, the consortium have completed the payment of $252.251m cost of acquisition.

    He said: “You recall that at the last NCP meeting, approval was made for the financial bid for NITEL/MTEL by the bidder, NATCOM consortium at the cost of $ 252.251M. Today, at the council meeting, the council approved the hand over to NATCOM consortium having paid the cost of acquisition.

    “By this approval, the process has come to a closure and the council has mandated the BPE to hand over the two companies to the preferred winner of course after all other outstanding issues are taken care of.

    “With this, the transaction has come to an end and Council asks BPP to hand over the two companies to the bid winner, NATCOM consortium,” he said

    Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, told State House correspondents  that government had settled about 98 per cent of ex-PHCN workers including their pensions and gratuities.

    He said that NCP has directed that any other remaining cases should be referred to the BPE for settlements.

    Mines and Steel minister, Engr. Musa Sada, said the council also discussed reforms of the National Parks as well as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) with the aim of restructuring the sector and bridge the 17 million housing deficit in the country.

    He said: “Another area was that of the Federal Housing Authority. Everybody knows that we have about 17 million housing deficit in the sector. For us to be able to build and recover this deficit, we must be ingenious in the way we handle the deficit in the country.”

    “There is no country that succeeds without the involvement of the private sector. So the policies must be right first. The committee presented reports on how to restructure the housing policy to meet the housing needs,” he stated.