Millicom International Cellular won the auction for Rwanda’s third mobile licence, with a bid of US$60 million.
Millicom’s US$60 million Rwandan licence will extend the company’s operations to eight African countries
Millicom said it beat three other bidders for the 15-year licence, and will own 87.5 per cent of a new joint venture with local company Marathon Corporation.
Millicom wins third mobile licence in Rwanda
December 1st, 2008 — Issue 6 December 2008
Turkcell tops Turkey’s 3G auction for US$462 million
December 1st, 2008 — Issue 6 December 2008
Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell has won the largest block or ‘A licence’ of 3G spectrum with a bid of US$462 million in the country’s auction. The reserve price was set at US$405 million.
Vodafone and Avea also won licences for lower 3G bandwidths, with bids of US$323 million and US$276 million respectively.
Bahrain’s third licence bid delayed till Jan. 11
December 1st, 2008 — Issue 6 December 2008
Citing the challenging world financial situation, the deadline for bids for Bahrain’s third mobile licence has been deferred a second time by the regulator until 3pm on January 11, 2009.
The original deadline was set for November 13, but following formal requests from the four registered bidders in the tender, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) extended the deadline for submission of bids until November 30. On November 24 this was extended again.
Zain reduces target by 27 per cent
December 1st, 2008 — Issue 6 December 2008
Pan-African and Arab mobile operator Zain has reduced the subscriber target of its ACE (Accelerate, Consolidate, and Expansion) strategy to 110 million subscribers, down from a target of addressing 150 million subscribers by 2011. The three pillars of Zain’s ACE strategy, which were devised by group CEO Saad Al Barrak, had been to attain a US$6 billion EBITDA by 2011, become one of the top 10 leading telecoms
companies in the world by market capitalisation, and exceed 150 million customers across all its operations.
Speaking at the Africa Com event in Cape Town last month, Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel, publicly referred to the updated subscriber forecast, and the original 150 million figure no longer appears on the company’s website.
Econet Wireless Kenya to come alive as Yu
December 1st, 2008 — Issue 6 December 2008
Econet Wireless Kenya is set to launch operations as the country’s third mobile operator, by the end of November, according to Michael Foley, CEO for Africa of Essar Communications. The journey to commercial launch has been a long and twisting one for the Econet Wireless International, which was initially issued the licence in 2004 following lengthy court battles.
It had been suggested that Econet in its own right could not finance the rollout of the network, and was rescued earlier this year by Indian mobile telecoms company Essar Communication, a subsidiary of Essar Global, which acquired a 49 per cent stake in the Kenyan licensee.
