New generation telecoms acquires NITEL

Great for NITEL! I hope to roll out on time!

It will be interesting to know those behind New Generations. Hope it does move beyond what the other bids before turned in to.

Please tell us more about the winning consortium. Who are the directors for instance and known backers if any? also, in due course help find out what their plan of action to resuscitate NITEL is. Hopefully this will be the end of this chapter for NITEL, it is becoming on botched sale too many.

New generation! formerlly Telefonica??? Well, I thought Telefonica still exists in spain. Now what is their source, who are their finaciers.we hope it would be backed by performance in terms of financial execution and Technical efficiency.Transcorp said it didnt understand the enormity of Nitel's liabilities before going into it,defeating the essence of due diligence,we hope the terms are clear now. we wish New Generation all the best.

the devil is in the details...

Another Story

Another Story

TY Danjuma may have something to do with this. The story says New generations telecommunications company. The name is not New generations. Haba!

Telefónica, S.A., (BMAD: TEF, BM&F Bovespa: TEFC11, BVL: TEF, Euronext: TEF, NYSE: TEF, LSE: TDE, Merval: TEF, FWB: TEF, TYO: 9481) is a Spanish telecommunication company. Operating globally, it is one of the largest fixed-line and mobile telecommunications companies in the world: third largest in terms of number of customers (with the acquisition of O2 plc., Movistar and Manx Telecom) only behind China Mobile and Vodafone, and in the top five in market value. They were behind China Mobile, AT&T, and Vodafone in November 2007. Created in 1924, as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE), until the liberalisation of the telecom market in 1997, Telefónica was the only telephone operator in Spain and still holds a dominant position (over 75% in 2004). Since 1997, the Spanish government has privatised its interest in the company. On 5 July 2007, the European Commission ordered Telefónica to pay a record antitrust fine of almost €152 million for activities in the Spanish broadband market which, according to European Union competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, "harmed Spanish consumers, Spanish businesses and the Spanish economy as a whole, and by extension Europe's economy".[2] From Wikipedia

SAT 3 for only $25m with MTN as the sole bidder! Is this a joke?

let's hope that this new generation telecoms will turn NITEL around.

@TO, the name of the winning consortium is in fact "New Generations Telecoms". I know because I am aware of the bid process( my fomer employer is part of the consortium).

@ DO, how is New Generation Telecom related to Telefonica? Please provide any info on them. Is Telefonica the technical backer of this deal?

@ DO, How is New Generation Telecoms related to Telefonica? I don't recall Telefonica having an asset called that name. Are they the technical backer of the deal? Any information you can provide would be helpful. thanks

Why are we allowing Chinese to buy this continent, they are virtually turning Nigeria into a Nation of shopkeepers and factory workers. and taking the profit home of course. let us consider what china is dooing in the Uygers right now and reconsider. if we give these guys a chance, they will show us what neo colonialism really mean.

why wasnt glo considered? Glo should have been alowed to run nitel. why give it out to the chinese? why? I dont uhnderstand these people. and nitel license comes with GSM license and everything. i wonder ooo

This is one story too many.NITELhave had enough of this unending transfer whose story has always seemed like a single-still-searching though partly on the divorcee list.I hope this will not turn out another episode in the continuation of the unpopular cabinet jubiti that is very popular among our so called leaders in authourity.

This is good news but we need to know the promoters of this consortium. This is not the first time NITEL which was once the pride of Nigeria is being Sold, I hope this time stays. I also hope that something should urgently be done about the over 15months salary being owed the workers who are currently going through untold hardship. If this is not done it might be a bit difficult for the New Investor to run smoothly.

Na today! One must sound pessimistic as this is not the only time that nitel is being bided and yet they will just back out and will not pay up. It’s a good one if they make good their bid by paying promptly and swinging into action. This will make us see them as serious. They have a lot of work to do as there is outstanding staff salary to be paid. Also there is some part of unsettled disengagement benefits that have to be paid to sacked staff since three years ago. So lets wait and pray the bidders pay up and on time and save Nigerians this agony of a perennially bad child that has refused to live or die.

They definatly overpaid for it. 2.5 billion and another 5 billion or so to get it up and running. Next closest bid is less than a billion. A word to the Nigerian government, cash the check immediately. Stop wining about China, if they gonna put that much money down, i'll say take it.

I totally agree with coy. Why not give Glo the shot. Permit me to be patriotic here. Even in advance countries,they will first consider their own citizens before considering any foreign ownership. Telecommunication is a very delicate asset to leave in the hands of foreigners in the name of a foreign investor much less to the chinese. I sure green backs would have changed hands. Unlike the Halibourton and the Siemen scandal Chinese companies are immuned from judicial scrutine from the west.

The unending mortgaging of our children's and their children's children continue while the now crowd celebrates. Quite sad!

HOPE THIS ONE WORKS OUT THIS TIME.

Great news for Nitel and the rest of us but Its still a bid for now.

Where are all the $billions (estimated at $500Billion) looted by thieving politicians and their cronies. Where are the money invested? I would imagine they are invested in the West in companies that would not even employ Africans and Caribeans. In spite of the size of the loot, there is no African equivalent of CNN or T-Mobile. It is one thing to loot Nigeria but unforgivable to take the stolen money out of the country and not invest it in Nigeria.

This is a step in d rite direction.government business is no man business.PHCN,NNPC,lets privatise them and lets see whether scarcity of fuel nd power outage will not be a thing of the Past.

people are not even bothered that genuine western telecom companies are not bidding for Nitel,where is AT&T,BOOST,VERIZON,SPRINT,VODAFONE,ETC,these are the companies with the latest technology in the industry,these chinese companies will only dump old gadgets,these people that don,t want google in china,they don,t have anything to offer

Black people the world over all we do is sell, sell, sell. We don't own anything. Furthermore, all you people who are selling everything to the damned Chinese you better think long and hard. If the Chinese can develop to where they are today, don't you think we Nigerians can also? They aren't any better than us. My people we have to wake up. Enough with all this slave mentality.

Nitel sat-1 alone is more than 2 billion dollars,OH Nitel how are the mighty fallen,genuine companies like Tmobile and others can not come to Nigeria,they know that a rogue government is in place so there won,t be accountability,China that is anti-internet is now trying to buy up Nitel,what a pity

Let us face the facts; Nigeria lacks the basic "TECHNOLOGY" to run anything right, period. We simply refuse to develop; We are devoid of technology to process our oil and gas, education in shambles, bridges are crumbling, Ajaokuta steel went bako daya, Energy and electricity went KAPUT, road infrastructures are in shambles, Nigerian railways are demagogues. GIANT of Africa, yeh, right; Empty drums sound the loudest. Very soon, this government will soon be auctioned away. "Bunch of brainless baboons", that was how late British prime minister(Winston Churchill) described African leaders; That toad faced, horrible, racist specimen never regretted saying that. Nigerian leaders have been proving him right.

$2.5 billion!!!!!!!!!!!! either these guys are fools or they just feel like burning money. They dont know what they are bidding for...MTN, a company that understands Nigeria bid the right price for SAT 3, New Gen must be joking! or am i seeing 2.5 billion naira?????

@ chioma, how can u say that sat 3 is 2 billion?? are u joking? if it is worth 2 billion why wasnt transcorp making any money from NITEL?

@ Anthony O, thank you my brother. If the Chinese want to put their $2.5 billion in what has become a wasting 'asset' and a national embarrassment, more power to them. I fail to completely grasp what those commenters who obviously prefer the 100 years of Western exploitation are blathering on about. It is not as if the Chinese are going to put Nitel on their heads and carry it away. Rather, they are going have to put in even more money after the $2.5 billion, create more jobs for a wide range of the population (from engineers all the way down to recharge card sellers) and add a multiplier effect to economic activity WITHIN Nigeria. Any Nigerian unhappy with the fact was FREE to outbid the Chinese. Great development all around.

@ chima, Nitel does not own SAT-3. It merely holds an equity interest in it, along with many other national carriers across Africa and some other entities beyond. It is that equity interest that MTN was bidding for, and I doubt that it was worth as much (or much more) than that $25 million price tag.

@ deji, if we were waiting for your so-called "genuine western telecom companies" we would still struggling with analogue technology and 5-year waiting lists for telephone lines. Thankfully, companies like MTN and even our own Glo did not listen to the pessimistic naysaying of the so-called "genuine western telecom companies" in 2001 and has reaped the rewards while empowering Nigerians in the process.

NITEL NITEL NITEL,WE ARE GOING THE WAY OF HAITI,WHO WILL SAVE THE BLACK RACE FROM CORRUPTION

@ Anjibobo, EVERY country needs foreign direct investment to supplement local investment. Even the China that you site has partly predicated its economic growth on massive FDI (as much as $160 billion in 2008). No country exists as an island unto itself (except for stunted ones like North Korea) and FDI often brings in much-needed funds and new technology. And while foreign investors will extract their dividends and royalties, the legacies of physical investment and newly-trained indigenous manpower are likely to outlast such investors.

'CHINESE INVASION' intensified.

I hear Turai is involved in New Generations ...

I wish the winning bidder success! No chance of a monopoly in the Nigerian telecoms arena of today so long as the regulatory framework stays intact. Anybody bidding such good money must surely have a realistic business plan to offer services that will attract customers at prices lower than current rates so we all benefit. Genuine investors should be encouraged not vilified or how else are you going to grow the economy and provide jobs? We Nigerians have paid a huge price from the botched Nigerianisation policy of past military governments. Today it Government is struggling to divest itself from mismnaneg direct commercial ventures(Refineries, Steel plants, NITEL, PHCN, etc). We as Nigerians ought to rework our mentality, become positive, humble and ready to learn from others. Also remember that every human being has equal potential as a gift from the Almighty but we have to develop it aright and stop whining. Finally, China has good technology. Those yearning for the AT&Ts, bla, bla should remember that todays world is remarkably different and more competitive. Some of them are equally struggling financially. Where would we be if MTN, Econet and GLO did not bid for the GSM licenses when they did. Today it is the telecommunication service quality delivery that keeps the customer otherwise we walk to the alternatives. Things will get better in this country once we have the courage to do the right things that are beneficial. Believe it!!!

If they fail to pay withing 30% within 10 days , I will singlehandedly pay 1 Billion USD to acquire Nitel.

@Dayo I have no problem with well thought out and well regulated FDI in a nation's socio - economic development. I am well aware of how nations develop especially in a contemporary globalized environment such as we have today. My problem with this particular transaction, and many like these across the African continent, is that there is likelt to be little benefit to us the supposed recipients of the investment, in real terms that is. The Chinese will come in with the money, but there will be very little technological and skills transfer. They will bring a majority of the skilled labor from China and leave only very menial jobs to a small number of Nigerians. They replicate this same mode of operation throughout much of their investments in other parts of Africa. In other climes, they use FDI not only to get the benefit of monetary investment , but also to ensure there is a significant transfer of technology to the point that the nationals of the recipient countries can eventually run the businesses for themselves or be able to develop successful businesses based on their knowledge they gained. China itself under Deng Xiaoping used the West's, particularly America's desire to invest in China, as a bargaining chip to ensure that they invested and in quite a few cases transferred some of the technology they brought over to the Chinese. This is in part what is responsible for China's ascent as a manufacturing powerhouse. It is this spirit I would like to see; the optimal benefit of FDI for us Nigerians. However, as our experience with oil investment from Chevron, Shell e.t.c has sadly shown over all these decades, we will obtain very little benefit in terms of skills and technological transfer. Juxtapose this against Brazil, where you will see what Petrobras, which started like our own NNPC, has been able to do for Brazilians and you will see what I mean. In essence, my point is we need to ensure we gain the maximum benefit from FDI and not just the monetary aspect of it.

Just to add one more comment, we need to look at all foreigners, whether Chinese or from the West who are investing and ensure we maximize the benefit of what we obtain from their FDI especially in skills and technology.

nigeria should really be careful and make the terms of this bid more favorable to the country as a whole.. lets look at this beyond the monetary value and concentrate on what benefits we stand to gain from this and also national security.

I still can’t believe Nigerians are complaining that China is going to pay $2.5 billion for a company that isn't worth anything close to 2.5 billion. More grease to Unicom’s elbow. I doubt they did their due diligence to offer that much. I don’t know how much the Chinese government is involved in this deal. We shall know more in the coming days and weeks. Let’s wait until money exchange hands before we start rejoicing. Western Telcos will invest in Nigeria but this is not the deal for them. They don’t like coops, and are afraid of doing business with Nigerian government. Remember OBJ’s nationalization in the late 70s. BTW, MTN got SAT -3 at a deal.

@ Anjibobo, your points are well-taken but when you look at the burgeoning implementation of the much-avowed local content policy in the Nigeria oil industry, you will begin to realize that foreign investors are not necessarily to blame for our technology transfer shortfalls -- no matter what well thought regulatory regime is put in place. In that regards, a seemingly well-intentioned Nigerian Content policy in the oil industry has now been turned by Nigerians into merely another rent-seeking avenue for those fronting "local content vehicles" to collect and chopulate (apologies to Zebrudaya) economic rent while the real work is subcontracted off to foreign (or foreign-dominated) servicing companies.

Gicell Wireless Limited. 27, Durban Street, Wuse II, Abuja, CEO is Usman Gumi.... Who are they fronting for? Your guess is as good as mine?

Remember we our "rulers" brought a "419" company called Pentascope to come and run Nitel. They paid Pentascope millions of dollars for nothing -"management fees". That company Pentascope has about 5 staff members in total.. That's why we are where we are... incompetent, corrupt, obscenely greedy leadership...

These guys are a funny bunch, Bharti Airtel is buying Zain Africa with 42 million subscribers for $10.4 bn. And some joker wants to buy Nitel for $2.5 bn, no network and no subscribers, in an almost saturated market. They should have spoken with Etisalat. I guess the Gicell Wireless chap wants to be known as the guy who bought Nitel. All in this economic recession, this bid makes no economic sense, because they need another $3 bn to bring it back to life, making it the most expensive network ever bought with no subscribers. Anyway I wish them well.

@DO: You were right about the name. Apologies

@ Mo, u seem to be one of the few that understand that the price offered is ridiculous...however, if i offered to buy the computer ur using right now for $1,000,000 wouldnt u accept it... this is a good deal on the Nigerian gov's side, lets take the money and run. $2.5 billion?????? are you serious! thats stupid.

True words Anjibobo and Julie. One would be quite daft to rejoice over this sale, not only because the 'sellers' do not have the interest of your posterity at heart, but because the 'buyer' knows it

@TO: Thanx for the Education. Unfortunately, Nigerian bums managing our commonwealth would never know the import of the post because they are brainlessness. Thanx a lot that they didn't fool everyone, rather it showed their ineptitude.

Excellent comments so far. As an "Insider" of the company, I really appreciate your briefed and truthful comments. This shows how Nigerians are interested in their Assets not been trickishly sold out to "themself" without proper procedure as "they" did through (dem-dem) Transcorp of unknown company years back. Before the company (Bidder) will eventually pay, please, remember that there are liabilities at hand, if not; we, the NITEL Casual Workers have been owed over 15months salary and even due to be fully converted to "staff". I am of the opinion that the Winner (Buyer) sould emphasised more on the man-power, assets (SAT3, CDMA, MTEL etc), as a Representative of ALL THE NITEL CASUAL WORKER in this forum, I am pleading in advance that most of the work done were the casual doings.

Why should we allow the chinese to bought over NITEL. We should have considered Nigerians even if they're the lowest bidder,atleast it will boost our economy. Chinese will take their profits home and also using Nigerians to boost the chinese economy. I hope we all know the implication of selling our companies to chinese.

uhmm.we hope this is a geniune deal.i beg to disagree with Jenny that why sell it for chinese?why not? Why are we deceiving ourselves.either to nigerian or whomever,let them start work & people b gainfully employed.thats what cn benefit the masses.you can be sure that the deal will always be shady.we hope they will eventually buy.

If China is truly involved in this then it means the 2.5 bill will be paid. Again, I fear that this company is a front for some greedy Nigerian who has embezzled ridiculous sums of money and seek to wash (launder) it by investing in legitimate business whilst keeping anonymous. Nevertheless, I really hope they make the payments and hit the ground running. It's high time Glo had some real competition. Personally, I feel Nitel is still valuable. Despite its shambolic state no other company can boast the fixed assets Nitel has. Property in choice areas across Nigeria, Underground cable ducts,etc. SAT-3 alone, if handled properly will surely be the icing on the cake for the company. Why else do you think MTN was angling to own it? Fibre is still very much untapped in our market and as such any company that can roll out competitive fibre based products will corner the it. Main One, Glo are already angling for this. We will know in 10 days time if they really mean business. I hope they do.