MTNL bids for Nigerian telco

Date: 03-09-2009

State-owned telecom operator MTNL yesterday submitted bid to acquire 75% stake in Nigerian Telecommunications (Nitel). MTNL will now appoint consultants to evaluate Nitel before placing a financial bid for the Nigerian government-owned telco that has both fixed-line and mobile operations (both GSM & CDMA.

The Indian telco will, however, have to compete with 12 other bidders, including global majors such as Africa’s largest telecom operator MTN, Etisalat and Telefonica. All bidders will be given access to Nitel’s books to begin due diligence. The deadline for submitting financial bids is October 2.

According to

Nigeria

’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the country has set up an evaluation committee to assess the bids submitted by the 13 companies. The BPE said it would give preference to companies that are looking to buy the telco’s fixed-line, mobile operations (both GSM & CDMA) transmission backbone, Analog System (TACS) and SAT-3 components together. Bidders have also been allowed to place bids for each of these components individually.crack crack