NATCOM finally takes over NITEL/MTEL after successful bid

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on Tuesday formally handed over the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL), to NATCOM Consortium.

This followed the emergence of NATCOM as the winner in the bidding for the telecommunications behemoth privatisation exercise, through a guided liquidation.

NATCOM had scored 92 percent when its technical proposal was evaluated by BPE, a mark well above the minimum of 75 percent set by the privatisation body.

NATTAG which had been prequalified by the BPE to participate in the liquidation process had its bid cancelled for failure to include a $10 million bid bond, as laid out in the Request for Proposal (RFP).

During the financial bid event which took place on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 in Abuja, NATCOM won the bid when it offered $252.25 million for NITEL/MTEL, having initially offered $221 million which was rejected by the National Council on Privatisation for failure to meet the reserved price for the moribund assets. NATCOM had 14 days from the date it received the offer letter to pay 30 percent of the bid price and 90 days to pay the balance of 70 percent.

The consortium met both deadlines. On January 6, this year, it paid $75,756,300, being the 30 percent of the bid price.

On April 2, five clear days ahead of the April 7 deadline for the payment of the balance, NATCOM paid $176,575,700, being the outstanding 70 percent required for the acquisition of the assets and business units of NITEL/MTEL.

John Olatunde Ayeni, the chairman of the NATCOM Consortium, said on Tuesday that although his company was elated to have emerged the winner in the exercise, the task ahead remains daunting and it leaves no room for frivolous celebrations and chest beating as the moribund assets require an injection of over $1 billion to revamp and recreate the new telecom company.

He said: “The task ahead is enormous. As you know, what we are taking over is the carcass of what used to be NITEL/MTEL. As you are aware, advancement in technology has made it imperative for us to start from scratch in rolling out services.

“As you are also aware, over 130 million subscribers are already in the kitty of the existing service providers.

With these challenges, you will agree with me that we must hit the ground running to make a success of this venture. We would be required to raise over $1 billion to inject into this venture.”

Ayeni was however optimistic that NATCOM would make a success of the acquisition.

“Our belief in Nigeria and its future compelled us to come into this venture. If it was about immediate short term gains, we would not have come into it. With our mind focused on the future and with our resolve to provide first grade services in the areas of voice and data communications to Nigerians through the deployment of the most up to date technology, we do not have any doubt that we will become a key player in the market within the shortest possible time.”