Etisalat Upgrade network to 3G from dangote telcom group.

Etisalat buys 3G unit of Dangote
Group, plans $400m network
upgrade in 2011
By Benjamin Amu
Lagos. December 1, 2010. Etisalat
Nigeria, the nation ’s fifth GSM mobile
operator today said it has purchased
for an undisclosed sum, Alheri Mobile
Service Limited, the wholly-owned
telecoms subsidiary and 3G licensee of
business conglomerate, Dangote
Group.
Both companies, citing non-disclosure
terms, did not disclosed financial
details of the 3G deal but the
announcement ends speculations that
they have been in talks as part of
Etisalat’s vision to offer new services to
its subscribers.
The acquisistion also puts Etisalat
Nigeria in the position to offer access
to full use of a 3G licence alongside
rival “big three” GSM operators: MTN
Nigeria, Glo Mobile and Airtel.
Etisalat also says it is spending $400
million in 2011 to upgrade and
enhance offering on its network.
CEO, Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans,
stated that the group is delighted to
acquire the company which has the 3G
licence, which is essential element for
further development of the mobile
broadband in Nigeria.
According to him, “ we have placed
strong emphasis on offering data
services to all our customers from
launch through enabling EDGE on all
our cell sites throughout Nigeria. Now
with 3G, we can further develop our
data and mobile broadband portiofolio
and offer our customers even higher
levels of services. There is pent-up
demand in Nigeria for broadband and
we intend to be leaders in satisfying
it ”
According to him, “we are not going to
make that same mistake. We are going
to make sure we have everything okay
before launching the services. We are
going to work on our architecture and
ensure that we have adequate
infrastruture in place to carry out the
services.”
He said the group is not going to grow
its capacity without having the
capacity to withstand the growth, and
thus added that it would cost
$50million to roll-out the 3G network
across the country.
Evans said that the service would be
launched before the first half of 2011
in major cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt
and Abuja while other cities would be
covered over time.
He adds that with this acqusistion the
group would be able enhance its voice
and data services while noting that the
present 3G network in the country is
currently not in standard with what is
obtainable.
Etisalat thus said that the group would
run a pilot test to ensure that their roll-
out on this platform meets every
requirements before it is offered to the
Nigerian market to ensure that
customers gets value for their money.
He charged operators in the country to
enhance their radio capacities to
support the submarine cables that
have landed in other to supply quality
data and voice services to their various
customers.
Chairman, EMTS, Hakeem Bello Osagie,
expressed satisfaction with the
acquisistion of the 3G licence and the
professional way in which the
negotiations were led by Chairman of
the Dangote Conglomerate, Aliko
Dangote and his team while adding
that he looks forward to further co-
operation in future.
Managing Director and head of
Dangote Communications (DANCOM),
Boye Olusanya, stated that “ It makes
sense for us to sell Alheri Mobile to
Etisalat Nigeria as we believe that the
market here can only sustain four
mobile operators in the medium to
long term. We intend to use the capital
raised to develop our other assets in
the telecoms market and we look
forward to continuing to deepen our
relationship with Etisalat Nigeria