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Cyberschuulnews
345
Banker forecasts co-location businesses as most
attractive segments in the telecoms sector
Nigeria’s
First City Monument Bank, FCMB showed strength
and equipment to confront the challenges of
co-location of telecommunications infrastructure
when recently its CEO , Mr. Ladi Balogun, made a
presentation to telecom industry players in
Lagos. The banker told his audience that there
is a high probability that co-Location companies
will be courted by every supplier and contractor
and viewed as critical partners for wireless
operators especially in the face of 94 million
subscribers estimated by 2013. He said multiple
operators will erode the market, ARPU will fall
to $7 by 2013 and at least 10400 additional
towers required over the next 5 years and $2.5
billion dollars required to fund this
requirement.
Mr. Balogun
made the points while contributing to an
industry plan of action which Telecom Answers
Associates, a Lagos based telecommunications
consultancy assembled industry players to
fashion out.
In SA, Cell phone operators buckle at last to
subscriber registration law
The
Regulation of Interception of Communications and
Provision of Communication-Related Information
Act (RICA) which mobile operators pooh-poohed in
2005 when President Thabo Mbeki signed it into
law is now said to be acceptable to the
operators. Under the law, operators must
register their customers and they will be held
liable if a customer sells, or transfers a SIM
card to someone else without record.
This, of
course, did not come on a platter of gold for
South African authorities but after some
amendment to the original requirements of the
law.
When the law
was introduced in 2005, mobile operators sensing
implementation would cost million of Rands in
unrecoverable expenses expressed resentment to
the objective of the law which they said was
unattainable.
Four years
down the road, Vodacom was said to have
confirmed during the week that systems have been
installed for the effective implementation of
the legislation and it is undertaking extensive
training programme on how to use the systems.
Similar positive reactions have been expressed
by MTN and Cell C.
What the law says about NCC's 2.3MHz frequency
spectrum licensing
by
Paul Usoro
Background
facts
SO much
brouhaha has been created by the recent 2.3MHz
frequency spectrum licensing round by the
Nigerian Communications Commission ("NCC" or
"the Commission").
In capsule,
NCC had advertised its planned 2.3MHz-licensing
programme on April 30th, 2009 and had invited
interested persons to indicate their interest.
The process continued to near completion on May
8th, 2009, with the naming of successful
bidders.
Thereafter,
it was alleged that the Honourable Minister for
Communications ("the Minister"), Prof. Dora
Akunyili, demanded the annulment of the process
and the commencement of a fresh process
consequent upon complaints that she received
from interested stakeholders in regard to the
licensing process. As at date, the NCC is yet to
annul the process and the minister is yet to
rescind her instructions. It would be fruitful
in the present circumstance to examine what the
law provides.
Licensing
and procedures
The Nigerian
Communications Act Cap N97 Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria, 2004 ("NCA" or "the Act")
is the Bible for the industry and should guide
the minister and the NCC in this matter. Section
4(1)(e) of the Act vests NCC with sole
responsibility for "granting and renewing
communications licences . . . in accordance with
the provisions of this Act and monitoring and
enforcing compliance with licence terms and
conditions by licensees."
In Section
32(1) of the Act, the NCC's responsibility
therefore is amplified further and made
unequivocal with the stipulation that "the
Commission shall issue communications licences
for the operation and provision of
communications services or facilities by way of
class or individual licences on such terms and
conditions as the Commission may from time to
time determine taking into consideration the
objectives of this Act and the provisions of
section 33(3) of this Act."
Now, the
present imbroglio, as PUC Journal understands
it, is not about the licensing powers of the NCC
per se, but more about the licensing procedures.
Who is responsible, under the Act, for
establishing the licensing procedures? Again, it
is the NCC that has sole responsibility therefor.
Section 33(2) of the Act leaves no one in any
doubt on this issue when it stipulates "subject
to subsection (3) of this section, the
Commission shall from time to time determine and
publish its licensing procedures which may
include but shall not be limited to auction,
selection processes, public tender invitation or
competitive bidding processes."
In drawing
up the licensing procedures; however, the NCC
must be guided by the objectives of the Act and
in particular, the principles that are outlined
in Section 33(3) of the Act which are
transparency, fairness and non-discrimination,
efficient use and management of radio
frequencies, available numbers under the
national numbering plan, the need to promote
fair competition and investment in the
communications industry, the need to provide
modern, qualitative, affordable and readily
available communications services in all parts
of Nigeria, and such other principles and
considerations as the Commission may from time
to time consider necessary and in the national
interest.
In the event
that the NCC deviates from these guiding
principles, the Act provides remedies for
aggrieved persons. However, just before
addressing the remedies of and for such
aggrieved persons, we need to examine the place
of the minister generally under the
Communications Act.
As a set
out, it needs to be stated that the NCA
established and envisaged NCC as a regulatory
and licensing agency that is independent of the
minister. This independence is captured in
Chapter III Part 1 of the NCA, which provides
for the functions of the minister. Section 23 of
the Act gives the minister the following
responsibilities and functions:
the
formulation, determination and monitoring, of
the general policy for the communications sector
in Nigeria with a view to ensuring, amongst
others, the utilisation of the sector as a
platform for the economic and social development
of Nigeria,
the
negotiation and execution of international
communications treaties and agreements, on
behalf of Nigeria, between sovereign countries
and international organisations and bodies, and
the
representation of Nigeria, in conjunction with
the Commission, at proceedings of international
organisations and fora on matters relating to
communications.
To reinforce
the independence of the Commission and erase any
doubts whatsoever in that regard, Section 25(2)
of the Act stipulates, "in the execution of his
functions and relationship with the Commission,
the Minister shall at all times ensure that the
independence of the Commission, in regard to the
discharge of its functions and operations under
this Act, is protected and not compromised in
any manner whatsoever." In effect, the NCC,
pursuant to the NCA, has complete control over
its regulatory and licensing responsibilities
and functions.
But of
course, those regulatory and licensing functions
must be exercised in the context and within the
framework of the "general policy for the
communications sector in Nigeria," the
"formulation, determination and monitoring" of
which are within the purview of the minister's
statutory responsibility.
Now, we
return to the remedies under the NCA for a
person that is aggrieved by NCC's decisions
under the Act. Section 86(1) of the Act
anticipated that not everyone would be satisfied
with NCC's decisions under the Act and therefore
provides, "a person who is aggrieved or whose
interest is adversely affected by any decision
of the Commission made pursuant to the exercise
of the powers and functions under this Act or
its subsidiary legislation ('aggrieved person')
may request in writing to the Commission for a
statement of the reasons for the decision.
It is
important to note that the scope of such
complaints is very wide and covers "any decision
of the Commission made pursuant to the exercise
of the powers and functions under this Act or
its subsidiary legislation." That includes any
NCC decision in regard to any licensing
procedures e.g. the 2.3MHz licensing procedure.
Upon receipt of "such written request by an
aggrieved person", the Commission is mandatorily
required under Section 86(2) of the Act to
"provide a copy of a statement of reasons for
the decision and any relevant information taken
into account in making the decision."
The Act
again envisaged that the aggrieved person may
not be satisfied with the NCC statement of
reasons and therefore stipulates in Section
87(1) of the Act, "an aggrieved person may at
any time within but not later than 30 days after
the date of receipt of the Commission's
statement of reasons . . . request the
Commission in writing for a review of the
Commission's decision and specify therein the
reasons and basis for his request."
Upon receipt
of such request, the NCC is mandatorily required
pursuant to Section 87(2) of the Act "to review
its decision taking into consideration the
submissions of the aggrieved person."
As a
follow-up, Section 87(4) of the Act provides,
"the Commission shall not later than 60 days
from the date of receipt of the aggrieved
person's written submissions, conclude its
review of the decision and inform the aggrieved
person in writing of its final decision thereon
and the reasons therefor."
It is still
possible that the aggrieved person will be
unsatisfied with the NCC's final decision on the
matter. In that event, Section 88(1) of the Act
stipulates that such "an aggrieved person may
appeal to the Court for a judicial review of the
Commission's decision or other action" provided
that, as further stipulated in Section 88(3)
thereof, "a person shall not apply to the Court
for a judicial review unless that person has
first exhausted all other remedies provided
under this Act."
Now, the
review process as outlined above makes no room
for complaints to be lodged by aggrieved persons
with the minister or for the giving of
ministerial directives to the NCC. The Act
stipulates a direct complaint channel between
the aggrieved person and the NCC and in the
event that the NCC does not satisfactorily
resolve the complaint, recourse may be had by
the aggrieved person to the judicial process.
It merely
remains to address some poorly defined
complaints about NCC's competence to allocate
spectrum frequencies independent of National
Frequency Management Council ("NFMC") and/or
Nigerian Broadcasting Commission ("NBC"). The
Communications Act makes the NCC solely
responsible for the management of the
communications spectrum. Section 4(1)(j) of the
Act is explicit in this regard by stipulating
that the Commission shall have responsibility
for the "management and administration of
frequency spectrum for the communications sector
and assisting the National Frequency Management
. . . Council in developing a national frequency
plan.
The NCA
indeed acknowledges that the NCC is but one of
the statutory bodies with responsibility for
allocating frequency spectrum to end-users -
NBC, for example, is another - and therefore
established the NFMC as a central clearing
house. NFMC is therefore required by Section 28
of the Act to, inter alia, "carry out bulk
trans-sectoral allocation of spectrum to
statutory bodies that are authorised by enabling
laws to allocate spectrum to end-users, and . .
. receive and collate returns and statistics on
spectrum allocation to end-users from the
statutory bodies specified in paragraph (e) of
this section and co-ordinate their respective
activities."
If the NFMC
had, prior to the controversial licensing
exercise, released the 2.3MHz frequency spectrum
band to the NCC for onward allocation to
end-users, pursuant to Section 28(e) of the NCA,
then that is the entirety of the NFMC's function
and responsibility under the Act. Thereafter,
the NCC has sole responsibility for the
allocation of the spectrum slots to end-users
pursuant to Section 4(1)(j) of the Act.
We must not
be taken to suggest that the minister cannot
proffer suggestions or pass on complaints from
aggrieved persons to the NCC. But of course the
minister can and should make requisite
suggestions and contributions to the NCC on how
best to improve communications services.
However, such suggestions and contributions must
not encroach upon the independence of the NCC,
which is statutorily provided for in Section
25(2) of the NCA.
Where
aggrieved persons complain to the minister, it
would, in our view, be in order for the minister
to pass on such complaints to the NCC for due
consideration. However, simultaneous with the
onward transmission of such complaints to the
NCC, such aggrieved persons must always be
advised and directed to follow the statutory
provisions in the NCA for grievance redress.
Only then will we have a regulatory and
licensing framework that is governed by laws and
is predictable and attractive for continued
investments.
This essay
published by Guardian newspaper is taken from
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/
Paul Usoro,
Telecom Lawyer, is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria
Engineering Assembly to focus on Education
(Assembly holds August 11 - 12, 2009)
Council for
the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN,
rose at its recent meeting to announce that
plans have reached final stages to host the
annual meeting of all practicing engineering
personnel in the country on August 11 – 12,
2009. Venue is the Conference Centre Abuja and
the Theme of the conference is “Quality of
Engineering Education and Training – Key to
Infrastructural Development”.
The assembly
will be addressed by seven speakers each taking
on different issues relating to engineering
education. The speakers include Engr. Barnabas
Gemade, Mr. Chris Uwaje, Engr. Ette Etteh, Prof.
Barth Nnaji, Prof. V.O.S. Olunloyo, Dr. G. C.
Udezue and Dr. Sara Rajala.
The
engineering Assembly is a COREN initiative which
puts all members of the engineering family,
Engineers, Technologists, Technicians and
craftsmen together for two days for brainstorm
session on common issues. The Act which sets up
the council encourages all employers of
engineering personnel to support their workers
to participate in the assembly.
APOLLO:
New devise to detect Mobile Phone theft
A device
that will help identify those in possession of
stolen mobile phones has been gaining
application in several parts of Europe.
Named the
‘Apollo’ the handheld device, provided by Radio
Tactics Limited, scans IMEI numbers or barcodes
found inside every mobile phone and instantly
provides information including the phone’s
registered owner, whether it has been reported
as stolen or if it has ever been blocked by the
network provider.
The
technology was introduced around early 2008 and
police forces across the UK are reported to be
using it in a bid to identify and deter
criminals and communicate vital crime prevention
advice around registering and securing mobile
phones. The device is also able to identify
stolen iPods and MP3 players that have been
correctly registered by their owners.
Not many
countries in developing economies have laws
compelling registration of phone users thus
making the device inapplicable is such places.
Phone
Regulators in Nigeria, NCC, recently announced
plans to register phone users citing several
reasons including protection of user investment
and hoping that the initiative would eventually
be backed by an act of parliament.
‘War
over nothing’
by
titi omo-ettu
Two things
inspired this essay and analysis. The first is
something that does not relate to
telecommunications while the other is a comment
from a telecom enthusiast who proved to me that
I have been lying, all along, that what is going
on in the industry does not bother me.
The
unrelated story is a report by Dr. Yombo Awojobi,
a distinguished rural surgeon who lives and
practices in Ibarapa area, Oyo State. He
circulated his report of a recent conference on
rural health held in Greece and the following
portion of the report pricked me:
Quote
I arrived at
the conference centre of Creta Maris hotel on
Heraklion Crete on Friday 12th June 2009 after
17 hours of air travel with stopovers in Accra,
Rome and Athens. During the conference, I found
out only four other Nigerians were present: Dr N
Udonwa, Miss K Odunayo, Miss I O Osewa and Miss
O Oyekunle.
Dr Udonwa is
Senior Lecturer and Chief Consultant Family
Physician at the University of Calabar, Cross
River State, Nigeria. He was a key figure in the
hosting of the WONCA conference in 2008. Several
complimentary remarks were made about him at the
Crete conference. Some leaders of WONCA were
made local chiefs in Calabar (Appendix 2)
The young
ladies are final year medical students of the
University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria. During a
discussion with them, two expressed the desire
to become family physicians after graduation and
the third hoped to obtain a master’s degree in
public health.
To my utter
surprise, the four Nigerians came to the
conference on their own steam! The students were
sponsored by their parents. When it was realised
that air fare from Nigeria to Crete was €1
000.00, registration for the conference was €490
for Dr Udonwa, €365 each for the students, hotel
accommodation was €200 per night, bed and
breakfast, for three days, Dr Udonwa would have
spent about €2 090.00 (N501 600.00 in local
currency) and each student €1 965.00 (N471
600.00) for this conference. I expressed my
admiration and appreciation to them for their
great sacrifices, more so to Dr Udonwa who could
now report on the opinion of WONCA about the
Calabar conference and the reactions of
delegates to my keynote address.
Unquote
The
emphasis in the quote above is mine.
I have
always imagined that the current government pays
no attention to telecommunications because its
key officials see the industry as one area where
we have had some accomplishment and therefore it
can run on its own, even on autopilot. Now I
begin to see that even in such areas where we
have performed very poorly, as in health
services, the situation is not any better.
We have the
responsibility to let government know that we
are watching and that we are concerned.
The other
guy who proved that I have been lying is
probably a journalist since my response to his
question, indicating that I have no interest in
the altercations that are entertaining everybody
at this time, is what motivated him to rightly
fire at me. Yes, I actually admit that
government’s direct performance in
telecommunications in the recent times has been
on the decline but it does not bother me because
it was not government that brought the industry
to its present level in the first place. What we
could arrogate to government was that it was not
obstructive to growth in the industry. But the
story has changed in recent times.
My
consulting apparatus had recently professed that
we would, in the remaining lap to 2011, engage
the industry in mounting awareness activities
that could sustain the industry because failure
to do that might allow things to degenerate such
that we may not have anywhere to start from in
2011 – when hopefully a new government shall be
in place.
What I
consider necessary and constructive at this time
is the need to restructure and harmonize the
emerging ICT industry and I have used a few
opportunities of my public dissertations to
stress the point.
Regrettably,
not only does the present arrangement of
government remain unfocused, it is also a fact
that current actions of its principal officials
may put the little achievement of growth (not
yet development, by the way) in jeopardy.
The aspect
that does not bother me is the ‘two fighting’
scenario which has provided some entertainment
for Nigerians in recent time. Two people
fighting cannot bring stress to the telecom
industry the way the ‘do-nothing’ posture of
government can. And to that extent, we can
ignore the fight and move on. I am not saying
that ‘two fighting’ is good but that we can
ignore it.
Incidentally
the two fellows who are fighting are good
matches for themselves. They are both achievers
in public service; one in transparency and
professionalism, and the other in raw courage
and commitment to a cause. Building on their
personal accomplishments, they have also been
made by the media and both seem aiming at making
the media to unmake them. They both share
praises in this instant and they also both share
blames. One is attempting to prove to the other
that the sanctity of our laws should be supreme
and that is good. And the other is proving that
if anyone is doing wrong he or she must be
brought to book no matter what his or her past
records are. Which is also good.
The
differences are that one has read the National
Communications Act very well while the other
might not have read it at all.
Above all,
one is equating the other to being the same as
the Commission that we call the NCC. If the
Commission takes a decision and you are taking
it on one person who incidentally is not even
the Chairman, you are getting it wrong.
A few days
ago, a newspaper speculated that the Hon.
Minister of Information and Communications has
argued that NITDA should migrate to her
Ministry. This is one but only an aspect of the
restructuring which, if it is what the minister
is implementing, is good for the industry. But
if that is the only issue that the Minister is
seeing, she will be well advised to dust up and
read the report which the Committee commissioned
by the last government on the subject of
restructuring of the industry and see that her
desire is but just a part of a begging
restructuring of the industry which we can call
ICT.
Evidences
abound to show that the Hon. Minister has not
found time to read the National Communications
Act 2003. Those who show to have read it are her
advisers who, by merely doing their work, help
her to overplay her oversight functions and
underplay her constitutional functions.
But that is
not the issue here now.
The issue is
that a restructuring of the industry is
desirable, failure to do which Nigerians will be
paying more for telecommunications while the
world is paying less – and at a time when
management, and not government fiat, is what the
world is now using to tame tariff in
telecommunications, and also to make good
quality service a right and not a privilege of
the people.
titi
omo-ettu is a Lagos based telecommunications
consultant
CyberschuulNews 342
For
sale, NOT for sale
Disposal of NITEL sets officials confused.
Newspaper
accounts of what may be going on in the mind of
officials in Nigeria regarding the disposal of
NITEL paint a picture of confusion and
helplessness. Although NITEL has moved from its
height of dominant operator to the low end of an
insignificant player, any wrong move at this
moment may permanently take its name off the
industry database.
Government
early in June, citing several justifiable but
belated reasons for the action, recovered the
ailing company from Transcorp which bought 51%
of it in 2005 . And BPE which was the undertaker
that took the company from good health to
distress all in eight years of unfaithful
privatization process is up again asking for
buyers.
Some account
says the BPE may be considering stripping the
company and its subsidiary down to several units
for unbundled disposal while some say the two
companies of NITEL and Mtel would be sold as the
only two separate units on offer.
Analysts
foresee a certain extinction of the company
known as NITEL/Mtel if any of the two steps is
taken. One Lagos based analyst has since opined
that what has remained intact in the NITEL saga
is the value of its FNO (First National
Operator) License which, in his opinion, remains
a good resource that should be withdrawn and
resold to worthy buyers at a good fee.
Nigeria advances on registration of phone users.
The Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC has expressed
desire to partner with private sector solution
providers to develop a widely accepted and
continuous SIM Card Registration System.
A notice at
the Commission’s website states that it invites
proposals from eligible and experienced firms
with proven track record of successful
performance in similar capacity to provide the
technical services for the conceptualization,
design, development, and delivery of a SIM Card
Registration Solution that will cover all Mobile
phone Operators in Nigeria (including CDMA and
fixed lines) and will provide, as a result,
detailed subscriber profiles and data in a
manner that will facilitate seamless integration
into the existing National Identity Database and
serve as the primary source of identity
verification of all SIM Card subscribers.
According to
the information document, the selected firm
would be required to:
•
Assess the current process for the issuance and
activation of SIM Cards nationwide across all
mobile and other networks;
•
Define a conceptual framework for SIM Card
Registration for new and existing subscribers
especially with the use of National Identity
Cards issued by NIMC;
•
Define a conceptual framework for
continued/future registration across all
networks;
•
Define and develop SIM Card Database structure
which will be verified and integrated into the
National Identity Database.
•
Develop key business processes to guide
registration;
•
Develop and provide detailed specification for
infrastructures including hardware and software,
communications links, database and integrated
middleware required to implement and automate
key aspects of the registration exercise;
•
Develop the implementation plan that will
include deliverables and timelines to ensure
that registrations of new and existing
subscribers are carried out concurrently;
•
Propose necessary amendments to current SIM Card
activation process to enable registration before
activation; and
•
Provide and build all identified
equipment/software requirements and provide
professional expertise to deploy all required
infrastructures and systems to integrate key
stakeholders in the registration process;
All
registration of existing subscribers should
start within six (6) months of
notification/acceptance of award; the winning
bidder is also expected to establish a mechanism
for registration of new subscribers on a
continuous basis within the same period.
Microsoft, Google in software row
Software
giant, Microsoft has claimed that a new Google
application disables a key function in Outlook
e-mail program.
The world's
largest software company has long desired to
play a major role in the lucrative Web search
market after watching upstart Google take a
stranglehold just as Google is similarly looking
to take advantage of its popularity to launch
software that competes with Microsoft's, thereby
creating a new source of tension between the two
companies.
LCU/THE CYBERSCHUUL SYNERGISE TO IMPROVE
TRAINING IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LEAD CITY
University, Ibadan and THE CYBERSCHUUL, Lagos,
are currently implementing a synergy deal to
upgrade graduating students of computer and
electronics with additional training in
Telecommunications business.
The pilot
scheme will soon be completed as 21 out of the
30 hours training has been satisfactorily
completed.
TELECOM
ANSWERS ASSOCIATES, founders of the CYBERSCHUUL,
had a few years back contested the argument by
some extremist employers who made claims that
Nigerian graduates are unemployable while
TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES position had been
that content of training in universities were
excellent but have merely not responded fast
enough to making present graduates immediately
relevant to the needs of rapidly evolving
telecommunications industry. This lapse in
TELECOM ANSWERS ASSOCIATES’ view could be
corrected by a slight modification in the
content and style of training to include
materials in telecommunications business.
Lead City
University mid-2008 approached TELECOM ANSWERS
ASSOCIATES on the matter and the resources of
THE CYBERSCHUUL were put into supplying the
missing stuff to graduating students of computer
and electronics at the University.
35
graduating students are benefiting form the
pilot training program which exposed the
trainees to stuff on traditional
telecommunication subjects such as wired and
wireless systems, mobile communication
standards and emerging technologies such as
Wi-Fi Wimax and internet applications. They were
also introduced to industry management tools
such as number portability, co-location and
sharing of telecommunications infrastructure as
well as convergence issues.
The program
does not include a Train-the-Trainers component
as the concept is to use current industry
practitioners to deliver the stuff to the
students on a continuous basis.
CyberschuulNews 340
Lagos-Accra-Seixal Marine fibre to be available
Mid-2010
Africa’s
increasing fleet of submarine fibre will get
another boost when mid-2010 the MainOne Cable
Company in Nigeria commissions an international
voice and internet capacity which its owners
said will offer higher speed and much lower cost
to consumers.
Landing
rights are already secured in Nigeria, Ghana,
and also in Portugal where the cable takes off
from. Ms Funke Opeke, CEO of the company was
quoted in a THISDAY interview midweek to have
said ‘we are bringing an alternative and it is
private sector owned. It has the latest
technology and is efficient. It has a lot more
speed and much low cost to deliver that kind of
connectivity’.
According to
the CEO, the worst hurdles of the plan have been
crossed and there is no going back. $250m is the
ultimate investment and $66m of this was
recently provided by the Africa Development Bank
according to another report.
The MainOne
cable system will have a design capacity of 1.28
Tbps.
NEWS
ANALYSIS
Transcorp’s 51% stake in NITEL now cancelled
TRANSCORP
and NITEL which President Obasanjo put together
in 2006 have now been put asunder by President
Yar’ Adua.
Nigeria’s
federal government during the past week
eventually found words to weave around its final
cancellation of the sale of 51% shares in NITEL
to Transnational Corporation (a.k.a. Transcorp).
That came after 30 months of a rudderless sail
of NITEL in the hands of a stillborn
‘conglomerate’, called Transcorp which Mr.
Obasanjo, Immediate Past President of Nigeria,
established in 2005.
Mr.
Christopher Anyanwu, the new boss of Bureau of
Public Enterprises, BPE, made the announcement
in a public statement stating the sins of
Transcorp to include the exit of BT as the
technical operator for the company and
Transcorp's failure to inject $129 million into
NITEL within 100 days of its takeover to address
the immediate liquidity problem facing the
company. He also mentioned huge interconnect
debt and inability of NITEL’s managers to pay
staff salaries for close to 11 months. At the
time of the announcement, top executives of the
‘conglomerate’ were in detention answering
charges which border on fraud.
Those who
have interest in Transcorp have called the
action blue murder and they are likely to
mention going to court to seek redress if anyone
cares to ask them.
Although
NITEL's story may not have come to a final end,
it has gone full circle all the same in so far
as the transcorp chapter of it is concerned. The
end is still to come as government said it is
still in search of a buyer for the First
National Operator.
It is not
clear what is being put on sale. NITEL’s name,
its assets (and liabilities in tow) or its FNO
license. Just another journey, come to think of
it.
...TRANSCORP
REACTS
Few minutes after Mr Chistopher Anyanwu,
Director–General of BPE announced the
cancellation of the sale of NITEL’s 51% shares
to Transcorp, Transcorp’s Mr Ezedi Udom signing
as Head, Corporate Relations Department issued a
Press statement thus:
PRESS
STATEMENT
Transcorp faults BPE’s purported revocation of
NITEL sale
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp)
plc has received with shock a letter from the
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), purportedly
revoking the sale of NITEL to Transnational
Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) plc.
Transcorp
regards the action as unnecessary and at
variance with the position of all the
stakeholders of NITEL, who had jointly agreed
that Transcorp should give its power of attorney
to BPE to facilitate the sale of NITEL/Mtel to a
new core investor, an action which Transcorp
promptly carried out last week.
Transcorp
fears that the purported revocation of the sale
of NITEL may prompt a chain of events that could
ultimately jeopardise the sale of NITEL to a new
core investor. It will be recalled that the
first purported reversal was generally agreed to
be counterproductive as it caused a huge setback
to efforts aimed at transforming NITEL.
This latest
revocation is coming on the heels of recent
successes recorded in the turnaround efforts of
NITEL which resulted in the coming alive of the
network in some parts of the country recently.
Transcorp
hereby calls on the BPE to rescind on its
decision in the interest of justice and for the
quick realization of the sale of NITEL/Mtel.
...ends
Ezedi Udom
Head, Corporate Relations Department, TRANSCORP
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
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