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Nigeria in line for telecoms sale
PRIVATISATION
IN WHAT could be the second biggest telecommunications privatisation in Africa, Nigeria has confirmed plans to start privatising Nigeria Telecommunications (Nitel) by June. Nigeria's independent newspaper this week quoted communications minister Maj-Gen Patrick Aziza as saying a committee would be set up by the middle of the year to implement the privatisation plan.
Nigeria has one of the lowest teledensities (the number of fixed lines per 100 people) in the world at 0.33, yet Nitel is the second-biggest telecommunications concern in Africa after Telkom. According to the International Telecommunications Union, Nitel's 1995 revenues were $867-million compared with Telkom's $3.7-billion. Military ruler General Sani Abacha announced the sell-off of Nitel and Nepa, the power company, in January this year. The communications sector was one of the first to be opened up under a programme dating back to 1992, and a number of privately owned telecommunications companies are already offering services to the public, with more under way. The privatisation of Nitel is the latest in the long list of sell-offs by African governments in the sector in the face of declining donor funds and attempts to increase the continent's teledensity to one line per every hundred people. It is estimated that at least $28-billion is needed in investment capital to achieve this. Last year, Telkom sold 30% of its equity to US-based SBC Communications and Telekom Malaysia for R6-billion, in one of the continent's biggest privatisations to date. In January, the Senegalese government announced the final leg of the partial privatisation of the state-owned telecommunications company Sonatel, offering 5% to an unnamed SA company. Last July, the state sold a third of Sonatel to France Cables Radio and 10% to staff. Also last year, the Ivory Coast government sold 51% of CI-Telcom to Telekom Malaysia, leaving the state with a 47% interest and 2% held by employees. Uganda plans to complete the partial privatisation of Uganda Telecom by offering a significant stake to foreign and local investors later this year. This month, Uganda awarded a second telecommunications licence to a consortium headed by SA cellular phone company MTN. The consortium also included Swedish operator Telia as well as a Ugandan and Rwandan consortium. The licence covers both cellphone and fixed line networks Last week Botswana awarded its first licence to a private-sector consortium, which did not include a SA company. The International Telecommunications Union said last year that 34 African countries had implemented or at least announced plans to liberalise telecommunications networks.
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