LAGOS, Nigeria-Six global telecom vendors are vying to build out Nitel’s GSM network in Nigeria. Nigeria awarded four GSM licenses earlier this year, and state-owned Nitel received one of the four.
U.S.-based Motorola, Germany’s Siemens, France’s Alcatel, Ericsson of Sweden and Chinese firms Huawei Technologies and Shanghai Bell all submitted bids that included vendor financing, according to international press reports. Motorola reportedly offered the lowest bid of just under $30 million. About 100,000 mobile lines are planned within a year.
Nitel is set to be privatized in September. Along with Nitel, Econet Wireless, a Zimbabwean consortium; Communication Investments; and South Africa’s Mobile Telephone Networks purchased licenses in Nigeria for $285 million each.
